Learning Curve: Book 1
by Cap'n Chryssalid
Summary: Almost a year after the Bakusai Tenketsu fight goes wrong, with nothing to lose, and nothing to live for, Ryouga returns to Nerima. His only thought his only concern: Revenge! But is that what he really wants? Or needs? version 1.4 RA RyN
1. Learning Curve part 1

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part I (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
As the darkened sun slowly set, a cold wind blew through the city. Admiring his view over the buildings, if only in passing, a young man sighed, taking in the image. It would begin to snow soon, he knew, like a now instinctive warning claxon from deep within his subconscious. It was going to be biting, probably mixed with sleet... but it wouldn't be rain. And if it wasn't rain, weather was really of no concern to him. Shrugging the weight off his shoulders slightly, and adjusting his well work cloak, the man hissed a silent and foreign curse between his lips, and kept walking.   
  
Shelter for the night would be preferable to simply keeping going, as he had the last two days, without sleep, especially in light of the coming storm. Checking the skyline, and the nearest buildings, he snarled. If he was where he suspected he was... which wasn't often correct... then he'd wandered more off course than normal. Finding what looked to be a somewhat knowledgeable passerby, he bowed his head slightly in deference, and took an educated guess as to the appropriate language.   
  
"Excuse me, but where am I now? Which city?"  
  
The man paused, giving the questioning man in the heavy wool cloak and oversized backpack a disbelieving look. He was, obviously, a foreigner due to the accent, though his grasp of the language was excellent. But, how could anyone not know where, at least generally, they were? Briefly toying with the idea that this was some kind of practical joke or the like, the man finally decided to play along, and shrugged.  
  
"Moscow. Why?"  
  
"Moscow... that's what I was afraid of. This may sound unusual, but which way to Tokyo, Japan?"  
  
The man pointed in the general direction of east, and answered, "East. That way."  
  
The cloaked foreigner seemed serious, and lowered his head a bit more, letting dark, heavy bangs cascade over his eyes, obscuring them behind a veil of black. The wind kicked up again, and the ends of the stranger's orange and black themed bandanna flittered slightly over his tip of shoulder.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
There was a tangible feeling of depression and darkness, just then, prompting the man to dismiss any thoughts of this being a joke. Quickly excusing himself, he left the foreigner behind at an almost desperate pace. Watching him go, Hibiki Ryouga narrowed his eyes in silent, burning frustration. Heading east would have to wait until morning. He was still in mainland Asia... this came as both a relief and as a blow to his pride. How could he have wandered halfway to Europe and not known it?! Sure... the nights had been getting longer, and the terrain and weather colder. And the people...  
  
Stupid stupid stupid!!  
  
"Damn it," he finally decided on saying. Self-loathing, while a popular Hibiki pass-time, wasn't productive at the moment, either as a motivational factor, or simply as something to pass the time between time zones pondering over. He had to find shelter, and this far into Russia, only Rubles would do, no matter how devalued they were. The only other option being American currency, which he kept for emergencies because it was accepted almost everywhere, but the current exchange rate was a mystery, and Ryouga didn't like his chances of being cheated out of his backup cash.  
  
"You're running away," hissed a small accusing voice, before being summarily ignored. So he walked, randomly, though the streets. The city had a vibrant nightlife that was, just now, coming out in numbers to dominate the alleys and streets of Moscow. Then, Ryouga saw it - a Dojo. Well... actually, it was a Systema Hall, going by the sign, only ten minutes away from closing. Challenging the master, traditionally, for a day's stay or some food was part and parcel of the mystique and lifestyle of the traveling martial artist. Far be it for him to pass up on such an opportunity.   
  
Quickly deciding this was the best chance for some room and board he was going to get, Ryouga stepped inside, his eyes taking in the layout instantly; his stance adjusting slightly for any possible attacks from any of the remaining students. Adjusting his well-worn old traveling gloves, and smiling, Ryouga decided to stay a few days. He would absorb this Systema, and adapt any of it he liked to his own style... it would be useful when the time came for fulfillment.   
  
And for revenge.   
  
The battle was brief, and Ryouga decided to spend the next day observing the school's best students as they sparred. It was a welcome and productive distraction from the past... from the duel: from what passed for a life. As a lull in the action came, despite his best efforts, Ryouga felt his mind wander onto where it all went wrong. Or right, depending on one's point of view.   
  
It had begun over a few months ago, back in Japan. He had returned to Nerima after two weeks of training, alone, in the mountains - the journey had been difficult, and the hardships great. It had been an emotional and physical peak, then, almost like a high. It had taken another week and a half; time wholly wasted, to get back to Tokyo, and by then...  
  
Clenching his fist, Ryouga closed his eyes in shame.   
  
By that time, Ranma had been training with Cologne in the Amaguriken. He hadn't had a chance, of course, so in retrospect his humiliation wasn't as great, but retrospective analysis never dulled the pain, or the anger, or the raw seething rage. If only... Ryouga stopped himself before that thought could complete itself. If the mind wanted to dip into that barrel of excuses, it may as well start with 'If only Ranma had showed up for our duel.' Or 'If only Ranma had... no, if only I had been more careful.' Or as far as 'If only I hadn't played as P-chan for so long.' It was, ultimately, a futile and fruitless exercise in frustration and anger; two things Ryouga knew he already had in terrible abundance. Still, Ryouga admitted, watching the students watching the sensei, did not a wise man say, 'Learn from the past?'  
  
Damn him, if he wasn't right.  
  
***  
  
The Past  
  
"I'm ready to go whenever you are," Ryouga said, shouldered his pack, and looked around the interior of the Nekohanten. The dinner crowd had long since left, and the place was empty, except for Shampoo, who seemed to be cleaning the café table. Cologne had told him to wait, and given his propensity for getting lost, and more importantly, his desire to avenge his earlier humiliation the results of which would undoubtedly lie in whatever the old bat had to teach, Ryouga wasn't eager to test his luck. The waiting and the silence weren't a problem, really; he was more than used to them - they were more like parents than his actual parents, wherever they were. The last he'd heard, his father thought his mother was somewhere in Australia, while he himself had business in New York.  
  
"Where you and great grandmother going, anyway?"  
  
"Eh?" The question came from the café, and Ryouga opened one eye, as if the speaker really needed visual confirmation. Shampoo asked again, before he answered, simply, honestly, "Training."  
  
Ryouga paused, before adding, "To defeat Ranma."  
  
"Stupid pig-boy never beat Airen."  
  
"The old woman would only train me if she thought I had a chance of beating Ranma. You should know that," Ryouga returned. Ryouga's brows furrowed, as he bit back the anger, even if she was currently 100% right on the issue. Shampoo was conspicuously silent, so he decided to throw a little more in. "Besides. You're too weak to form an educated opinion. Ranma beat you by accident."  
  
Shampoo visibly bristled, and a part of Ryouga instantly regretted saying that, not because she was angry, which was just the reaction he'd hoped to provoke, but because he was sure she was hurt, too. It wasn't like he had a problem with Shampoo, he was just feeling particularly short tempered and eager to snap at someone. He didn't know her very well, but it was likely her Amazon pride was still hurting from that little incident Ranma had shared with him and the rest of the Tendo Clan. In a way, he really pitied the girl, especially after the way Ranma had tricked her into leaving soon after she'd shown up.  
  
Ryouga could literally feel her glare on him, but ignored it when the faint tap-tap of Cologne's walking (hopping?) stick signaled the ancient Amazon's entrance. Soon, he would begin training in the Amaguriken technique. He would defeat Ranma and... and... and after that, he wasn't sure. Maybe Akane...   
  
'No.' He reprimanded himself. 'Stay focused! Focus, damn it!'  
  
Pushing off from the wall with his shoulders, eyes still closed, he was silent and let none of his thoughts betray him. Cologne watched him adjust the pack on his shoulders with practiced ease and go through some unknown mental preparations.  
  
"Watch the store while we're gone, Shampoo," she spoke over her shoulder. "I'll only be gone a week or so."  
  
"You really going train lost boy?" Shampoo, still angry over being called 'weak,' decided to press the issue. "He probably get lost on way there."  
  
Ryouga growled under his breath, and Shampoo continued, "Shampoo come, too. Help keep lost boy not lost. Training trip make up for lost plane tickets."   
  
More importantly, Shampoo thought to herself, was to learn whatever he was going to learn. It wouldn't do for people to go around thinking she was weak.... Besides, if Ryouga thought that of her, Ranma probably did too.  
  
"I don't need your help!" The lost boy in question snarled.  
  
"A fine idea, Shampoo," Cologne said in a neutral tone, "Get your things. We can wait a few minutes."  
  
"She won't get in the way, will she?" Ryouga asked, after waiting a few seconds for Shampoo to leave the room. He didn't need to add that he was referring to the inevitable fight between Ranma and himself. He had seen Shampoo doting over Ranma before, and it had interrupted their skirmishes previously. This one was the most important to date - taking Shampoo along was a risk he wasn't keen on taking.  
  
"Are you saying you'd be unable to deal with that?" Cologne answered in a roundabout way, and Ryouga huffed in obvious dismissal. The ancient Amazon smiled at that. A poke at male pride could accomplish more than a thousand blows to the cranium... in most cases. Taking Shampoo along was actually looking more and more like a good idea: she would provide additional motivation. Ryouga had as much pride as her son-in-law, and he would do anything to avoid looking weak in front of any girl, even one he had no connection to, like Shampoo. Furthermore, Shampoo could cook; freeing her from having to do so, and it might even encourage her great granddaughter to rededicate herself to the Arts of her tribe.  
  
Shampoo was an excellent and skilled warrior, the finest of her generation, but Cologne had noticed an obvious and disturbing dip in her skills since she left the village to pursue the pig-tailed girl who was actually a pig-tailed boy. Almost certainly, it was due to her reversal from revenge to love, and the lack of any serious opponent in that respect. Tendo Akane was nowhere near skilled or strong enough to fight Shampoo and win, additionally Shampoo had given up trying to kill Ranma, and as a consequence, by the time she returned home in disgrace, her skills had atrophied to the level they were at when she turned 15, well over a year ago. The training at Jyusenkyou had been essentially a disaster, and had cemented Shampoo's decision to 'cut down' on Cologne's recommended training regimen in favor of returning to court Ranma, for which additional fighting skills were unnecessary.   
  
Worse was the Mousse situation. Damn that male... Cologne knew he was fast, skilled, and strong enough to defeat Shampoo, and had been for a little over two years, but he refused to do so. Her dislike for him had only developed after she realized that he could beat Shampoo, but never did so. It was a terrible insult, both to Shampoo and to herself, that could not be ignored. His showing up recently only made things worse. Shampoo, of course, felt she could defeat him in battle, should the opportunity arise, and worked to drive home her determination NOT to improve herself. Cologne would have cursed silently at the situation, and almost did on occasion, because there was no easy solution to the problem.   
  
What Shampoo needed was an appropriate rival, something to motivate and encourage her to mature, but Cologne had no idea where to find one.  
  
***  
  
The Present  
  
"Saotome! Prepare to DIE!"  
  
"Aw, geez, man! Not again!" The martial artist in question, well acquainted with that particular battle cry, jumped to the side as the ground beneath him splintered and cracked. Twisting, he faced the young man crouched below him, one hand's clenched fingers dug into the broken asphalt, and the other behind his back. Fluidly, as he stood up, the boy drew out a long, wide bladed weapon Ranma had become altogether too familiar with over the last few weeks. The razor's edge of the giant spatula caught the light as the weapon's wielder smirked, and lowered into a modified crouch, one hand forward.  
  
"Time to pay for your crimes, Saotome!"  
  
"I'm getting sick and tired of you attacking me!" Ranma landed easily on the top of a nearby building. "What's your problem, anyway?"  
  
"You'll find out..." The boy hissed between clenched teeth, and took to the air, "Right before I send you to HELL!"  
  
Ranma growled something under his breath, before rolling backwards and avoiding losing his head to the unusual weapon. Keeping mobile, he pushed off with his shoulder at the first opportunity. Looking over to the side, only for a half second, he saw the still quivering handle of a mini-spatula wedged cleanly halfway into one of the roof's tiles where he had been headed prior to his misdirection. Spinning in midair, arms out, he then deflected the next of the projectiles, and pined down Ukyou's position where he was quickly readying another of the things. Letting his inertia carry him, he extended his right leg - hoping to end it this quickly was probably foolish, but a protracted fight now, this early in the morning, would make the rest of the day a real hassle.   
  
A wall of steel seemed to disagree.  
  
Landing on both feet, Ranma lowered his arms from the block, silently cursing at the pain before dismissing it. Ukyou stood, his giant spatula held in a post-strike pose, before quickly shifting into a cross-handle attacking position. Ranma braced himself; he always used that position to attack with his main weapon - in a way, it was like fighting Kuno, except Ukyou was as skilled without his blade as with. Making a split second decision to move in quick, and try to disarm him, Ranma ducked at the last second, spun, and dug a sharp elbow into his opponent, before reaching up and grabbing the handle of the weapon itself.   
  
"Ha!" He felt a rush of confidence and power, as he gave the weapon a hard jerk. Ukyou was good, but not as strong as he was - the other boy had no hope of winning now. He might as well give up and leave. Bringing up his left leg to block a counter blow, Ranma amended that, and returned one of his own, catching the boy in the lower ribs. Ukyou gave a snarl, and another tug at the weapon, before seemingly closing his eyes in defeat.  
  
A moment of pity came and went, before Ranma forcibly reminded himself that Ukyou wasn't his friend anymore. Looking down at the angry young man, he wondered just what had happened to turn Uuchan into this state. Sure, Ranma had stolen food from them, but Ukyou's father never saw it as anything too serious. It was just training! He even encouraged it! Maybe... the secret sauce? He had ruined that, but it was an accident, and no reason to go all blood-eyed vengeance on an old friend.   
  
Still... maybe there was a chance things could be set right.   
  
"Good! Now give me the..." Ranma's voice became a squeak, as a fist buried itself in a very... intimate part of his anatomy. Before he could regain his bearings, he was airborne. The world was spinning, but everything came into crystal clarity as his back made best friends with a dozen roof tiles. Aside from that, the pigtailed martial artist only wished that damn ringing in his ears would clear up.  
  
"Give you... what you deserve, Ranma?" Ukyou reversed his spatula in his hands, leveling the sharpened edge to Ranma's body. "Don't mind if I do!"  
  
And then the roof gave out.  
  
Ranma hit the ground with a thud; his attacker recovered instantly and landed soundlessly on both feet. A tense second passed, and Ukyou blinked at the two elderly people who had been having tea in their living room.  
  
"Um... hi?" Ukyou said, unsure.  
  
Ranma, however, would not be ignored, and a split second after the words left Ukyou's mouth, his feet took their place, sending the martial artist up and out of the hole in the roof. Ukyou knew what was next - she was in the air, and the air was indisputably Ranma's domain. The panic came quickly, and left just as quickly. Reorientation identified where the ground was, and it was close. Then, without preamble, the blows rained down to the chorus of...  
  
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!"  
  
Ukyou hit the hard ground on her side, fighting back the urge to pass out, and looked up. Ranma was standing above her, hurt and angry, yes, but to her eyes: mostly gloating and arrogant. This battle was over, and they both knew it. Silence would have been preferable - the silence of the humble victor, but that thought died as Ranma's mouth curved into a smile, and the inevitable left his lips. "Why do you keep doing this, anyway? I always win."  
  
'What point is there?' Went unspoken, but sufficiently implied.  
  
"Liar! This is far from over!" Ukyou snarled, slowly getting back to her feet. The smile on Ranma's face faded like cheap ink in the ocean, and Ukyou knew, then, that though the battle had been lost, the war was only beginning. ...That there would be a reckoning.  
  
What point was there? What else: to SPITE him!  
  
"You don't know what you're talking about." Came the response from the heir to the Saotome School.   
  
"You are a liar and a thief. And this isn't over, Saotome. Not by a long shot! I will have my revenge, even if it takes me another ten years!" Ukyou stepped back, over the edge of the roof, and was gone. Seeing him go, Ranma winced at the pain from this last encounter - he'd NEVER expected another guy to do that to him, even in a fight. What kind of a man hit below the belt, anyway?  
  
"What the hell happened to you, Ukyou?" Ranma spoke far too softly for anyone to hear, turned, and made himself scarce.  
  
The landing had been hell, but Ukyou shrugged off the pain. Brushing a hand by her side, she checked to make sure that nothing was broken, and didn't hide her relief when she found no permanent damage. It was small compensation for her defeat; she HAD the bastard... then she had gotten distracted. And, a small part of her whispered, she had hesitated. It was probably natural, and truthfully, she knew that she would when the time came, but it was unnerving nonetheless. How could more than ten years of toil and work end in her standing over him and then ignoring the momentousness of the moment to talk to two old people?  
  
"Stupid." She leaned against the front door of 'Ukyou's Bar and Grill.' The whole thing was stupid...  
  
"Hmm?" She blinked at the mailbox, standing impassively in front of the door. Shrugging, she reached in and was rewarded by a handful of papers and a single package, most of which were dismissed after a half-second review. She kept the phone bill separate - she'd check that one more carefully later - and the second to last one. Staring at it for a second, looking over all the stamps and the strange writing on the otherwise plain brown-wrapped package, she wavered between opening it outright, or waiting.   
  
Grinning, she tucked it under her arm.  
  
She had a call to make first.  
  
***  
  
The Past.  
  
Ryouga fell to the ground a crumpled, crushed heap. The battery acid tang of blood was, by now, a familiar taste in his mouth, but he spat it out nonetheless. Gasping, he decided a little humor wouldn't hurt.   
  
"Out with the old... ugh... in... in with..."  
  
'Damn. I really wanted to finish that sentence, too,' he thought, as his body somehow found the strength to roll over onto its back. High above, mockingly, that damn boulder swayed back and forth. Dotting it like streaks of new age paint were blotches of blood, the newer ones a dark crimson in the cold night air, the older ones from yesterday a shade of black. Ryouga saw a sick timeline in those splatters of himself high above. Were they a testament to his determination... or his stupidity?  
  
See the Breaking Point with your mind, not your eyes.  
  
At least his memory was intact.  
  
Closing his eyes, Ryouga only saw the last few hours, over and over again. Silently, he hoped that his dreams wouldn't be like this, despite the fact that he knew better. Every impact he had dared to close his eyes on, to try and ignore, to try and shy from, would come back and haunt him a hundredfold when he slept. And they would keep coming until he no longer feared that barely audible whine, that creek in the ropes holding them both above the ground, and that sudden 'pop' of air right before several tons of solid rock tried to turn you into gut jam.  
  
It was then that he realized it.  
  
"H... h... hungry!"  
  
The woods didn't seem to care, so Ryouga silently cursed them to hell (They can join Saotome there, as far as he was concerned). While he was on that subject, he carefully pointed out and documented, for future reference, everything in a ten-mile radius that would also be cursed to hell. Foremost among them that damn boulder, that damn old Ghoul, and that worthless amaz...  
  
"You hungry?"  
  
'Kami bless you, Shampoo,' Ryouga thought as he coughed, to try and get his voice back. Standing over him, he saw Shampoo: she wasn't dressed as flamboyantly as usual, or even in the traveling clothes she had worn yesterday. Replacing all that was a simple black shirt (though it had some odd white dots on it here and there) and pants. He also noted that she didn't offer her hand to help him up.  
  
"Very hungry, yes," he grumbled, and then rolled back, fluidly, onto his feet and into an upright standing position. The pain was rapidly fading, as his body and his ki went to work subconsciously. He knew, from experience, that, by morning, after some food - almost any food (he was used to living on dry rations and instant noodles once every two days) he would be ready to begin anew the torture and masochism of learning the Bakusai Tenketsu.   
  
"Is good. Come with me, no get lost."   
  
She turned, and he followed. It was a short walk, relatively, into the clearing where the Amazons had made camp. There was a stream running by with fish, and Ryouga growled inwardly at it. Mornings he spent trying to increase his speed and hand-eye coordination trying to catch the fish without getting wet. It was totally infuriating, especially after his curse activated for the fortieth time earlier in the day. In a way, he preferred the physical pain of that damn boulder slamming into him than the simple and undeniable frustration of the river.   
  
  
  
Ignoring the water, something the Jyusenkyou cursed would consider akin to ignoring a snarling beast on your front porch, Ryouga took in the rest of the camp. It was plush, given what he was used to. The old ghoul wasn't around, but who knew what that dried up old woman did with her time anyway? His pack was lying against a large rock, where he had left it earlier, providing a quick sense of relief that it hadn't been lost. Some days, it seemed like he lost that backpack a dozen times a week.   
  
There was also a large fire crackling, filling the area with a gentle glow, and a large metal pot over it promising that at least something was cooked and ready. No hunting for him - good thing, too, with the intensity of his training regimen and his directional problems. Idly, he realized he had no idea what time it was, and then dismissed it. Time here was relative anyway. Sitting down in front of the fire, Ryouga felt a sense of calm and serenity, and savored it - it was such a rare feeling, simply to let the body and the tension melt away.  
  
"What a day!" He inhaled deeply, and smelt the food. Sighing, he did so again as Shampoo handed him a bowl.  
  
"Is plain ramen," she said, simply.  
  
"It... it smells good, Shampoo. Thank you." Ryouga gave a weak smile, before beginning to eat. It may have been plain ramen, but it was good. It was only about five seconds into eating that he realized he hadn't checked to make sure it wasn't drugged. He regretted it at first, given what he'd heard about the unscrupulous Amazon and some of what he'd witnessed, then paused before he said anything. Shampoo seemed to be eating it herself from her own bowl without any hesitation, so, in one of his brighter moments, Ryouga kept quiet and decided if the food was drugged, he'd just end up drugged.   
  
Seconds, and thirds followed in short order by the time Shampoo had finished her first helping. Ryouga didn't then, or before, consider himself greedy - one simply got what food one could, when one could, regardless. To his exhausted body it was as matter of survival now, as it was back when... back when he had showed up to the school cafeteria, broken and hungry, so often back in his younger days. He hadn't nearly been as good back then at hunting, salting, and preserving meats as he was now. Then, there was just the hunger, the food, and Ranma.   
  
"Curse you, Ranma." He couldn't help but growl, but kept it low. No need to make Shampoo protective... if she attacked him in his current state, it wouldn't be pretty. It also wouldn't be good for his training schedule.  
  
"Hmm? What lost boy say?" She looked up from the empty pot, obviously a little annoyed, and just as obviously (except to Ryouga) a little pleased that, for once, someone ate her food without asking if it was drugged, or if it came with favors attached. That kind of stuff was probably just the domain of that crazy Kuno girl, and Akane's mercenary older sister, at least in Shampoo's limited worldview. Ryouga seemed a little nervous, before inching back against the truck of a tree and relaxing notably.  
  
"Nothing." He sighed, and closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Shampoo. ...Thanks again for the food."  
  
Shampoo just blinked, once, and shook her head.   
  
"Stupid lost boy."  
  
***  
  
The Present.  
  
Inside the restaurant, at the grill, Ukyou checked the clock for the third time. Looking over the remaining people in the place - only two couples staying late after eating, given the lateness of the hour - she relaxed. The stove was cold now, but she wasn't in 'disguise,' and had let her hair down and dressed in her much more comfortable cooking clothes. Ranma had, about a week ago, walked in on her like this and asked if 'Ukyou had a sister?' He hadn't shown his face here since, for obvious reasons. The memory still boiled her blood, and she shook it off with practiced ease. Her 'brother' would take it out on the pig-tailed brat tomorrow. So absorbed in alternating thoughts of vengeance and annoyance, Ukyou hadn't noticed Shampoo until she was right in front of the grill.  
  
"Hey! Spatula-girl!"  
  
Ukyou sighed in annoyance at the name. "About time you showed up, beachball-girl."  
  
Shampoo smirked. "You were calling me, not other way around. What this surprise, Ukyou?"  
  
"I got a package. Thought you'd like to open it when I do, sugar."  
  
  
  
"Package from Lost-boy?" Shampoo shook her head a bit. "From Ryouga, yes?"  
  
"Yep. You haven't been practicing your Japanese, have you? You know if you just registered and went to school...."  
  
"Shampoo doing fine on her own! Maybe you try speak fluent mandarin in less than two months. See how good you do."  
  
"Mousse did it," Ukyou added, deciding to have some fun with the Chinese girl.  
  
"Stupid Mousse." Shampoo ended the subject then and there. Ukyou shrugged, reached behind the counter, and took out a medium sized plain brown-paper package. It was, however, covered in a number of stamps most of which looked totally foreign to both girls. The return address wasn't even in anything recognizable. Taking one of her mini-spatulas, Ukyou opened it carefully. There were three smaller boxes, all neatly laid out, also wrapped, and on top of that, a single folded postcard.  
  
"Is definitely from Ryouga," Shampoo said, and Ukyou just nodded. Ryouga was one of the neatest and most organized people either girl had ever seen - he somehow knew where everything in that massive pack he carried was, and it was a miracle of topography that he was able to fit everything in there in the first place. Shampoo reached down and picked up the postcard. It was a picture of Ryouga, leaning casually on his newest red umbrella, in front of a line of large gray-green tanks of some sort. A building with twisting spires dominated the background.  
  
"Wow. Lost boy really lost this time."  
  
"Open it," Ukyou urged. She knew Shampoo couldn't read perfect Japanese, and she also knew better than to say so. Deciding quickly, Ukyou started reading out loud.  
  
"Ukyou, Shan Pu, I hope this letter finds you both in good health and high spirits. Ukyou, I hope you've been giving Saotome back at least some fraction of the Hell he has inflicted on both of us while keeping yourself safe. I wish I could be there to watch you fight him, but I can only hope that your training prepared for the task at hand, and that you are still able to take out your vengeance on his worthless hide. Remember to watch out for his tricks! He'll do anything, say anything, to win! Shan Pu, I hope Mu Tzu hasn't been annoying you as much now, and that those books I got will help you become more comfortable speaking in Japanese. You know I also wish you luck in whatever you chose to do, even if it revolves around that damn rat bastard Ranma, and even if I fear it will only bring you heartbreak. But please, try and keep the poisons and potions to a minimum - such is not the way of a martial artist. If either of you are curious, I am currently in --scratched out-- St. Petersburg. At least that's what the guy here told me. Anyway, if this isn't St. Petersburg, then I suppose you won't get this package. IF you get this package, which you must have to be reading this, then that means I was in St. Pete's... yeah, that makes sense. I seem to be steadily heading west... I think, and this damn compass you got me ('I got him,' Ukyou points out.) doesn't seem to be helping that much. I'm going to try and catch a plane to Hong Kong again, and after that on to Tokyo. Wish me luck. And inside you'll find some things I thought the two of you might like. Sincerely, Hibiki Ryouga."  
  
Ukyou added, "PS: 'Damn it! This is all Ranma's fault!'"  
  
"Shampoo see what he got her!" Shampoo picked out one of the little boxes labeled 'Shan Pu' in mandarin, and opened it with gusto. Ryouga sent them stuff every few weeks, and it was always a surprise what they got. Back in the village, when she was young, Shampoo had gotten New Year's presents, and usually something on her birthday, but that had ended ten years ago. Ripping away the paper, she ended up with a small box, the clear cover displaying some sort of computer.  
  
"It's a beeper," Ukyou said, matter-of-factly.  
  
"Beeper?"  
  
"Probably for your delivery routes. You know, it beeps, and you get a message from someone about stuff."  
  
Shampoo expression spoke volumes... or the lack thereof.  
  
"It can be pretty useful." Ukyou turned to her package, and opened it neatly. Inside were several vacuum-sealed cans of sturgeon caviar, and a note. "Roe Okonomiyaki?"  
  
"Is delicacy," Shampoo stated the obvious.  
  
"Could work, I guess. The lost boy has odd taste, it seems." Ukyou picked up the last package, and tested the weight: it was obviously a book, but was otherwise unlabeled. Tearing off the paper, Ukyou saw the title and quickly handed it to Shampoo, who looked at it for a second before speaking.  
  
"Is Russian. No can read." She shook her head.  
  
"Must be for his little collection here." Ukyou took it. "It'll put it with the two Indian ones and the one in... er..."  
  
"Cantonese, if Shampoo remember correctly."  
  
"Yeah. Cantonese." Ukyou put the book away, with the three others, in the back of the kitchen behind the grill. "You know what this means. He's actually trying to come back now. If he catches both planes... a virtual impossibility, I know, but if he does, he could be here in a week."  
  
"If only one, probably three weeks," Shampoo said and sighed. "Stupid lost boy."  
  
"He can't wander Asia forever. Sooner or later he'll get lucky and walk onto a ship or plane or something." Ukyou closed her eyes. "He always gets to where he wants to go... eventually."  
  
***  
  
The Past.  
  
"Again!" Cologne demanded, her voice stern.  
  
Ryouga snarled in acceptance, ignoring his own nudity, concentrating instead on the water. His fingers itched, oddly, as did the muscles in his arms. Quickly, the fast flowing current resolved into slow motion - the slow motion the world took on when there was just survival and the fight. When the center was found, and the rest of the universe devolved into another frame of mind. Leaning forward, Ryouga's fists became streaks of motion, plunging into the water faster than the eye could see, as down below, the fish just began to panic and scatter at the intrusion. Their movements were like molasses, however. The challenge was three fold, the first being the coordination required to catch the fish without getting wet, the second being to hold onto the fish and maintain a grip, again, without getting wet, and the third being to drop the fish behind him while still maintaining this level of speed.   
  
Before him, the water parted. Narrowing his eyes, Ryouga trust his flattened palm again into the swirling vortex that was in front of him. Droplets of water hung in the air, like an explosion of diamonds. Mentally, Ryouga tracked them, even as he let his instincts guide his hands through areas of already parted water, widening his palms ever so slightly when needed to open new tunnels that would only last half a second each. The fatigue, too, was looming over his body like a specter, alternating between telling him to give up and urging to rest. Of the two arguments, the second was, Ryouga knew, by far the most deadly and dangerous. A rest, now, however tempting, would ruin everything...  
  
Then, the tingle began in the base of his spine, and he cursed mentally.  
  
He'd lost.  
  
"Bwee!" The pig shook its head. Over him, though not much (she's pretty damn short) Cologne sighed, emptying the kettle over him. Hooves grew into hands, and the tiny pig expanded into the form of a man, the yellow and black bandanna shifting during the transformation from neck and shoulders to forehead.  
  
"Damn it all," Ryouga said and slumped over, hands carving furrows in the ground. "I just... can't do it!"  
  
"The kettle's empty," Cologne replied, confirming what he had already suspected, and Ryouga slowly nodded. She turned; giving him one last glance that sent sick shivers up the back of the boy's neck, before hopping off. Shaking some of the water from his head, Ryouga quickly toweled himself off, and with all too practiced ease, got changed. His clothes, at least, were dry. After the first day, Cologne had simply suggested he take them off during this part of his training. It had been embarrassing, naturally, and Ryouga had refused at first... but in the end, it made sense. And, given that he'd undergone well over thirty transformations in the last two hours, it was also more convenient.   
  
He paled when he remembered that Cologne had also offered to strip down to make him more 'comfortable.'  
  
"Ugh. Old hag," he grumbled, wringing out his bandanna, the one item of clothing he kept on. Letting out a deep breath, he waited, and let his strength return. It was noon, and Shampoo would come in a minute or two to make sure he didn't get lost. Looking down at his hands, he made a fist and realized the tingling was quickly fading away. He'd need to actually hit Ranma to finish him with the Bakusai Tenketsu...  
  
"Wait!" Ryouga paused at that thought: Point A slowly but surely made its way to C, and found B in-between. "Why would that ancient harpy be teaching me a technique that would destroy her beloved son-in-law? There's something else I'm missing here..."  
  
"Nihao!" Ryouga heard from behind, as Shampoo leaned over his shoulder. "Lost boy always talk to self?"  
  
"There usually isn't anyone else around to carry a conversation with." Ryouga stood up, eager for what was to come. "And it's 'Hibiki Ryouga.' Or just Ryouga. Not lost boy."  
  
"You lost all the time." Shampoo stated as she walked, and Ryouga started stammering a half-hearted denial. "You boy. You lost boy."  
  
"Fine. Be that way uh... Chinese... um... girl." Ryouga waved it off, not caring anymore. "Ah, never mind. What's for lunch?"  
  
Shampoo headed off through some bushes, opening up to the campsite, and Ryouga followed. "Pork buns."  
  
"P...P... pork buns?" He exclaimed, shocked.  
  
"You no like pork?"  
  
Ryouga raised a questioning eyebrow. "Do you like cat?"  
  
Shampoo seemed to think about that for a second, before answering. "Never eaten cat. Wouldn't know."  
  
"That's not... I mean..." Ryouga sat in front of the plate, looking at the two steaming, and delicious smelling and looking items of culinary preparation. "My curse is to turn into a pig, you know."  
  
Shampoo didn't seem to follow. "Shampoo know this. So what?"  
  
"You... remember when you tried to cook me?"  
  
"And try serve you to Ranma, yes." Shampoo remembered, and noted that mentioning the pig-tailed martial artist caused Ryouga to flinch slightly. Either that or it was the memory of that event.  
  
"That wasn't the first time it'd happened to me." Ryouga picked up one of the buns, his self-righteousness warring with his hunger. His voice remained cold, however, and he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Not by a long shot, Shampoo. I've come close to dying in my cursed form... close to being eaten... so many damn times. You wouldn't understand the horror... the... the inhumanity of being treated like potential food by other people."  
  
Shampoo was silent. She was bordering on asking if he wanted something else, when he closed his eyes and took a bite out of the first of the buns. As he ate, slowly, his bangs fell over his face, obscuring his eyes. Between mouthfuls, he sighed, his voice still low and cold. "Sorry...."  
  
"Why sorry? Shampoo should be sorry," Shampoo asked as he looked up at her, dark green eyes distant.  
  
"You didn't know it was me. No one ever does." He looked back down. "Not that it makes much of a difference. It would be nice being a cat... unless I ended up in North Korea again. It wouldn't matter what you turn into there."  
  
  
  
He let out a quick chuckle, and Shampoo felt some relief as his mood lightened. He was dangerous, she knew from watching him fight Ranma before, but that wasn't it really - when he was like that... the depression and veiled anger was almost tangible. It was an emotional relief to have it dissipate somewhat, and she decided to try and encourage that, if for nothing else than her own mental well-being.   
  
"Shampoo get caught once."  
  
"Caught?" Ryouga looked up again, his mouth full.  
  
"As stray cat." Shampoo took a quick bite out of one of the buns herself. "Taken to animal-prison. Have to escape. Not get home for days, because stuck as cat. Was scary, but kind of fun, too."  
  
Ryouga noted her smile, and gave a small one himself. A memory like that would be just one more painful reminder of his curse, and the tragedy that always seeped into his life, but Shampoo seemed to be describing it as some kind of adventure. As something to remember, not try to forget. It was... an odd concept, but Shampoo didn't seem to live with depression much, despite the fact that she was, pretty much, somewhat of a loner. HHHe'd seen as much over the last few days. She trained, apparently, mainly by herself, and she didn't seem to talk to many people much. Mousse, from what he'd heard, she mainly smacked around and tried to get away from. Ranma, she was too busy glomping to carry a conversation with.  
  
"Well." He scratched the back of his neck. "It's not like you wear a pink heart-shaped collar or identification or anything."  
  
Shampoo laughed, and the two ate briskly. Ryouga finished his second bun quickly, and ignored his stomach's complaints for more. The Bakusai Tenketsu's training was next, and it wouldn't to for a full stomach of food to try and withstand the impacts he'd soon be receiving. A light lunch was preferable, and would tide him over until dinner. Idly, an earlier thought made it to his mouth.  
  
"Shampoo... Are you training by yourself?"  
  
"Plan on training with Lost Boy in mornings, but..." She trailed off, and Ryouga blushed a deep crimson.  
  
"Yeah," he settled on, too nervous to continue.  
  
"No can train with after, either. You always so weak and fall asleep after dinner." Shampoo also finished eating, and stood up. Ryouga noticed she was wearing similar clothes, except this shirt was red, and came to the conclusion that it was almost certainly what she trained in.   
  
"I've got some time before ...Cologne comes and drags me off to dispatch." Ryouga shrugged. "I could give you a few pointers. ...You're not planning on attacking Akane, are you?"  
  
"Shampoo already stronger than violent girl," Shampoo said and smiled.   
  
Ryouga sighed.  
  
"Alright. So... Hey!" The lost boy jumped back as a quick kick passed by his nose. Shampoo pulled her leg back and spun into a backhand that Ryouga saw coming, and avoided. Shampoo's attacks were strong, he knew, but not too quick in execution, and her style was actually fairly raw. It wasn't a surprise that Ranma, in girl form, had defeated her, back at her village. Ducking under another kick he pushed off with his toes, and landed softly half dozen feet away from the attacking Amazon. One thought still worried him.  
  
"We're just practicing, right?" he asked, "No Joketsuzoku rules or laws or anything involved?"  
  
"Great grandmother not around anyway."  
  
Shampoo shrugged quickly, and moved in to attack. Ryouga pivoted at the last second, casually avoiding her fist. Her eyes caught his in that millisecond. Gone was the depression from before, or even the anger. Replacing it was a softer version of confidence that she had seen in Ranma's blue-gray eyes. Before she could try and counter, Ryouga's elbow softly tapped into the back of her head, just enough to feel it.  
  
"Shampoo," he simply said, his voice professional and calm as he lowered his arm. "How much did your grandmother teach you?"  
  
"Great grandmother," Shampoo corrected, and lowered her arms too. The spar was over. With full strength behind that elbow, Shampoo suspected her head would have looked like a splattered tomato. "She teach traditional weaponless and weapon armed fighting techniques. Shampoo best in village."  
  
Ryouga was going to say it didn't say much for the village, but held his tongue. He'd taught Akane Martial arts Rhythmic Gymnastics before, and insults were rarely the right way to go about it. Unless they were really necessary, of course. Besides, Shampoo was really quite good. She was exceptionally strong, fast, and skilled. He was just... better.  
  
"Anything else?" He asked, sensing there was more to it.  
  
Shampoo thought about that before answering, "Few other special things. Bonbori weapon specialty. Broadsword techniques. Staff fighting. Martial Arts Pressure Points. Martial Arts Takeout..."  
  
"Martial Arts Takeout?" Ryouga seemed obviously skeptical.  
  
"Very similar to Martial Arts Masonry!"  
  
"Martial Arts Masonry?!" Ryouga didn't hide his skepticism this time. ...Not that he really had last time, either.  
  
"Is where Bakusai Tenketsu come from! Lost boy should at least know that!" Shampoo held up a finger. "Have attack called 'Blowout.' Destroys delivery when touch box."  
  
Ryouga's eyes narrowed. Shampoo was concentrating a small amount of ki into her finger, just enough that he could feel it. Slowly, he smiled. Things were quickly beginning to fall into place. What was that English word?  
  
'Eureka!'  
  
***  
  
The Present.  
  
Ryouga relaxed in the seat; folding his ticket into the pocket in front of him. It had taken an extraordinary amount of luck getting to the first plane. He had wandered into an airport, and after two days had managed to find a flight to Hong Kong. Luckily, the airport had been built on an artificial island, minimizing even his chances of wandering off course. It had taken another two days of non-stop walking and searching (and avoiding getting arrested) before he found a flight to Japan. It wasn't Tokyo, but it would get him close to home - which was what mattered. To a Hibiki, being a hundred miles from home or being one mile hardly made a difference, the chance of finding the place was the same. It was by necessity that the family had literally thousands of frequent flier miles to their credit, and that Ryouga had been able to cancel and recover the money from the flights he missed.  
  
  
  
He was flying coach, so the meal wasn't exactly very good, but compared to what his stomach could handle (Akane's cooking) and what his taste buds were used to, it was still one of the better tasting meals he'd had over the last week. Sighing, the lost boy looked out of the window at the rolling ocean below. Contrary to what many believed, Ryouga did indeed know geography. On a broad scale, he knew both a great deal about different parts of the world, a lot of it from first hand experience, though, to date, he'd never ended up anywhere as exotic as Africa or South America. The farthest off course he'd been was somewhere around Berlin, in Europe, shortly after first getting his curse at Jyusenkyou, which had subsequently taken him to North America, and from there to the Philippines and then finally to Japan. He'd touched on the Near Middle East once during this trip, though not for very long. Thinking back, his mind clear of actually finding the places, he went over this last adventure in futility and escapism.  
  
Or was it simply a form of self-imposed penance?  
  
"No matter." He decided on, as the man sitting next to him shifted slightly while reading his newspaper. Ryouga closed his eyes, and traced his steps. After his little... situation, he'd hitched a ride on a ship to South Korea. He'd tried to get back then, but ended up sneaking (see: stumbling) across the border into North Korea, almost being shot to hell in the attempt. Growling, Ryouga admitted it wasn't the first time he'd ended up going through the ol' DPRK, and it probably wouldn't be the last either. It was one of the few countries he'd ended up in more than once in which he had to actually watch out for military patrols attacking him in the night. He'd hit the larger People's Republic next, Ryouga wasn't totally sure exactly when he'd crossed the border, but mainly stuck to the cities and ended up going south; he could see that now. It'd undoubtedly been the longest, hardest part of the journey.   
  
He'd trailed an American Tour group for a day, blending in by speaking English, and had gotten through Xian and back on track south before he ended up in Mongolia, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Cities were, for a Hibiki, a lot easier to get lost in than the forests and jungles of the world, but on the other hand, it was a lot easier to get a general idea of where you were when there were signs and other people around. He'd been aiming for Jyusenkyou, in Quinghai, and the chance of a cure, but obviously missed it entirely.   
  
"Big surprise there," he said softly and let out an exasperated sigh. The rest, after China, was a maze of unending jungles, except for Thailand and Burma - Ryouga knew he'd been there. Thailand because he'd studied some Muay Tai Boxing, and spent an extra few days there, and Burma because someone there had out and said he was in 'Myanmar.' Then he'd ended up in a mountain range that was obviously the Himalayas. He'd never entered India proper, at last not to his knowledge, but he had spend a lot of time Bakusai Tenketsu'ing through mountains and the like and perfecting his more destructive techniques, so it was hard to tell. There'd been plains and deserts, eventually, and at that point Ryouga knew he'd begun to make really good time. Without water to worry about, or other distractions, he'd simply picked a direction and WENT.  
  
He'd crossed the Indus (Or some other big river) in a reed boat soon after, and the customs he'd seen made it obvious Pakistan had been next (He'd been shot at there, too). Here it got really tricky, because as a Hibiki, Ryouga had still covered a LOT of terrain and, he suspected, went in circles. It all seemed the same, but if he recalled correctly, and he usually did when relaxed and wasn't actually there, that he'd been through Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and maybe Kazakhstan. Iran, he knew he'd been to, because he'd passed through Tehran and seen a lot of the countryside. He'd ended up in Russia, which meant he'd passed through either the tip of Turkey or Azerbaijan, through Georgia, and into southern Russia. A very different route from the last time he was in China, after Jyusenkyou, when he'd veered north through Russian Siberia - mostly open land and forests, and made it to Europe with relatively little interference.   
  
It'll be good to get back to Japan...   
  
"Hey!" Ryouga turned from looking out the window to gently nudge the man sitting next to him. "We've been over water for a while now."  
  
"What do you expect?" The man ruffled his paper and turned the page. "This is the overnight flight to Hawaii."  
  
"..." Ryouga's armrest crumpled like tin foil, "H... Hawaii... aaaAAAAARRRGH!!!" 


	2. Learning Curve part 2

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part II (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
Cologne sighed to herself as the boulder beneath her swung back, slowly, the supporting branches overhead creaking in protest. Around forty feet away, attached to the same apparatus that held the multi-ton boulder suspended, her student was tied, legs crossed and only one arm, and one finger on that same arm, free. He'd taken to closing his eyes, the Amazon matriarch noted, in regards to the training. The last three days he'd kept his eyes open, often during the impact, in an effort to 'see' the breaking point. Today, however, he'd kept them closed, and seemed a lot calmer and more collected during the exercise, despite her attempts to rile him. The Hibiki boy was powerful, physically, but his emotions were a weak spot - mentioning Akane, Ranma, and the like very easily had predictable and adverse effects on his ability to get better in touch with his ki and what it could do for him.  
  
Cologne tensed a bit as the boulder reached an apex of height, inertia fading, letting gravity take it back down, gaining in speed.  
  
She herself had undergone the training, though with a smaller boulder. Traditionally, the Bakusai Tenketsu was done with a boulder one third the size she was using now, and even then, not as much force was behind it. The training was also stretched out over weeks or months. This, she knew, had little to do with the size of the boulder except for the always-present danger of brain damage that the use of larger, heavier rocks entailed. However, observation of the Lost Boy showed he was capable of surviving the impacts of this size, and likely possessed the skill and conscious experience of Ki manipulation. She had, on the first day, before the first rock collided, told him.  
  
"See not with your eyes."  
  
The boulder shuddered violently as it smashed into the young martial artist. There was a wet thump, and a sharp intake of air as Ryouga pushed off the surface of the training tool. Looking up at her, eyes dark with a likely combination of pain and repressed anger and depression, but most importantly determination, he spat out what she wanted to hear, what she had been drilling into him over the last few days.  
  
"Again!" He screamed, as if addicted to the pain.  
  
"Very well." Cologne tapped her staff on a nearby tree trunk, and the boulder began, again, to creak backwards. Outwardly, she was annoyed at him, and made as much known every few failures. Silently, Cologne was amazed. Before the training had begun, she had tested some of his abilities. He was incredibly strong, this much was his most obvious attribute, but only recently had she gotten an appreciation for what he was capable of. Ranma was also in the mountains training, with Akane, and she had seen Genma-Panda when he came to spy on what was going on here. Since then, she had divided her free time between watching her son-in-law prepare for the upcoming fight, and watching his rival.   
  
The rock began to slow, before stopping entirely, and then moving forward for what seemed like the two hundredth time today.  
  
Cologne had seen, as she planned, Ryouga practicing and training Shampoo before the Bakusai Tenketsu training. This was why she had allowed Shampoo to come, indeed, why she hadn't initially thought of it herself was almost a little embarrassing. Her great granddaughter was a fine Amazon specimen, and an excellent warrior - the best of her generation. However, compared to Ranma, even then, she was virtually nothing. This, coupled with Shampoo's disillusionment and eventual acceptance of her defeat, began what Cologne knew was the gradual fading of her warrior spirit. Cologne was not one to offer training except in special cases; hence she had been hesitant to directly confront her protégé with her concerns. By tradition, Shampoo would have to ask her, not the other way around.   
  
Another sickening splat.   
  
The boulder shook a little this time, and Cologne noted it as a tiny Ki infusion, but incorrectly placed and used. It was almost like... the Blowout Delivery Attack? Cologne smiled inwardly at that. So: he had managed to get a little inspiration from his training partner, and come to the logical conclusion that the attack Shampoo knew was related to the Bakusai Tenketsu. It was a cousin technique, in execution, but still quite different. Mastering one did not instantly grant mastery in the other. But it was a good head start. He was growing remarkably close to 'seeing' the breaking point. Deciding a little goading might help, Cologne put on her heartless martial-arts master voice.  
  
"Why don't you just give up?" She said, coldly, "No progress. No progress at all."  
  
"AGAIN!"  
  
Cologne tapped the trunk in a now well-worn location, and the boulder did as it did. Cologne had also wanted to observe Ryouga's personal abilities, outside of simply carrying orders, as she had for Ranma. Like the Saotome boy, Ryouga practiced a very loose, unrestricted style, that couldn't be properly observed except when used freely. Simply asking him to show her 'what he could do' would accomplish nothing, because it wouldn't actually be how he fought. It had taken a bit longer than she suspected, but when Ryouga began to take on the role of helping Shampoo improve, often indulging in sparring sessions with her, it was the prefect opportunity to see the differences and similarities between her son-in-law and his rival.  
  
"AGAIN!"  
  
And he was so close to finding the breaking point it very nearly amazed her. Cologne had had some hint that Ryouga had experience with Ki Infusion techniques when she checked his clothes and backpack. The former were lighter than expected, and the latter far, far heavier, and not simply due to the number of items stuffed within. Additionally, his umbrella was also mysteriously heavy. The Amazon's suspicious were confirmed when Ryouga, by chance, sent a stray bandanna, one of many apparently, near her when she allowed him to sense her sneaking up on him. Not see: sense. Further, the bandanna had acted like a shuriken, and buried itself deeply into a nearby tree trunk. It was reminiscent of Martial Arts Gymnastics, which Cologne had heard of, but never actually seen. It supposedly infused Ki into gymnastic ribbons to increase the strength of the material, and other properties. It was a strange thought - this Hibiki boy learning, of all things, Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, which consequently became adapted to his lifestyle and fighting techniques. Like it was in her son-in-law, a single technique could spawn half a dozen improvisations and improvements in a superior martial artist's mind.   
  
A dull thud interrupted her thoughts, followed by something that sounded like...  
  
"aah... again."  
  
She had seen Ranma doing as much to her Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken, using it to pick off attacking bees before they could sting him in the clearing near where he and his father, a man who obviously held many powerful techniques and abilities behind his clumsy and cowardly exterior, were camped. The Chestnut Fist was, at its heart, simply a speed exercise for the hands, inspired by the ancient Seven Lucky Gods Clan, of which the leader traditionally used Chopsticks in a similar manner. Ranma had learned it in a mere few days, though Cologne admitted she had been reasonably soft on him, due to her inability to accurately gage his level of skill in specific Ki mastery. It was a learning experience for both of them, in a way. Ranma had, apparently, learned it more quickly using fish in water as opposed to actual chestnuts in a fire, which was the normal method, one that often lead to ugly scarring. Ryouga's unfortunate curse had almost made her reconsider using fire, but to her pleasure it had instead proved both motivational and ...entertaining, to say the least.  
  
The rock shook under her feet, and Cologne looked down at the somewhat limp form clinging to the front of the boulder. Inwardly, she realized she should have put some pause into that last swing to give him more time to recover. Ryouga's face was bloodied, one eye slightly swollen, and a slow but steady trickle of dark red blood was flowing out of the corner of his mouth and into a new patch of dried blood beneath his chin. One of many Cologne noted. She'd heard that many Amazons believed the Bukusai Tenketsu was a technique designed either for fanatics and masochists, from watching the comparatively pitiful displays of its training regimen back at the village. Sighing, she looked at where Ryouga's finger had hit the boulder at an off angle, and saw a tiny dark Ki signature lingering in the rock, barely breaking the surface, and barely visible.  
  
She knew, then, that he'd have it mastered by tomorrow, probably after only another hour or two. Cologne smiled at the thought. When he was fully healed, after the training was complete, he would be practically immune to any physical attack her son-in-law could bring against him. Though the technique didn't work on organic targets, of which Cologne was sure Ryouga knew... or would certainly know once he mastered it, it built endurance, toughness and strength to insane levels. Coupled with his growing, but still more incremental, success with the Amaguriken, the two would make an unbeatable combination when used against her son-in-law. That Tendo-girl, Akane, would be Ryouga's prize, because it was obvious he was infatuated with her, and Ranma, who never appeared to have any feeling for the girl, would become Shampoo's... if only because the boy would need her great grandmother to teach him a technique to defeat his rival. And if he didn't, there was always Plan B.  
  
"We'll stop here for tonight." Cologne reached out with her staff and undid the main knot of the harness around Ryouga. He fell into the ground, breathing but not moving.  
  
"What... what a familiar view," he finally spoke, looking up at the blood stained boulder. Then, very slowly, he smiled.  
  
***  
  
Present.  
  
"Two things about Hawaii. One good, one bad."  
  
"Oh? What's that?"  
  
"One. It's an island," Ryouga shifted the strap on his shoulder a bit.  
  
"And Two?"  
  
"Two. It's an island," The lost boy said, nodding to himself. It had been just over a week since he landed in Hawaii, the large island. He'd ended up on a ship to Maui, and another one back, he thought, while looking for Gate 46, which had, the week before, been the location of the next flight to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the island seemed to have an insane range of climates and locales stuffed into its meager 4000 something square miles, making him even more lost and directionless than usual. Currently, he was in a small café, overlooking the ocean, feeling just a little more depressed than usual.   
  
"Another coffee," he ordered. "No cream. Same as before. Dark as the night."  
  
"Right." The woman turned and started making the drink, when Ryouga spoke up again.  
  
"I... I know this is going to sound stupid, but... where am I?"  
  
She looked over her shoulder. "What do ya mean?"  
  
"I mean, where am I? Exactly?" Ryouga hated asking for directions, especially from women, but it was a necessity. Though they rarely helped, it usually at least gave him some reference point for the future, and some handle on where to go next. Hell, he wasn't even sure he was on the large island anymore. "I'm kind of looking for an airport."  
  
"You're on the Kona Coast, honey. Keahole Airport is about 20 minutes from here."  
  
"20 minutes?" Ryouga smiled, just a little. 20 minutes driving time was about 40 minutes jogging at a fairly casual pace for him, but that was only if he got lucky and didn't get lost.   
  
"Yep." She handed him his drink, and Ryouga put down the required cash. At least he knew he was in the United States, and had a handy emergency supply of the appropriate money. "Just head down the I-11. The Interstate. It goes right there."  
  
"Good! Thanks!" Ryouga totally ignored the heat of the coffee. He was almost used to being splashed by boiling water, drinking some of it wasn't a problem. Silently, he savored the drink. The western world seemed to love their coffee, and he didn't mind it occasionally himself. He'd only gotten two hours sleep yesterday in his effort to get out of a volcanic type area as quickly as possible, and the coffee was a welcome relief when he could find it.   
  
"Oh no," the woman at the café said, and Ryouga looked in the direction she seemed to be concerned by. A trio of men, dressed somewhat unusually, had walked in. They sported loose jeans, and fairly colorful T-shirts, the words on one of which Ryouga didn't recognize: likely some slang term he hadn't picked up on his last time in America.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, its Mel. Guy's got an ego the size of the Goodyear blimp."  
  
Ryouga obviously missed the reference.  
  
"Hey, Anne!" The man in question, flanked by his two shorter friends, walked up to the counter, one of whom took a seat. Ryouga noted that the taller one, obviously Mel, moved with some control, and was likely some kind of fighter by his movements. It was either very subtle, suggesting he was very good, or he simply wasn't that good to begin with and didn't know how to conceal it. Ryouga was willing to bet on the latter but didn't totally rule out the former. Experimentally, he tried to read the man's Ki, and found it average in all respects, but then again Ryouga was hardly very experienced in that particular skill. Come to think of it, he was probably over-complicating the situation like usual.  
  
"What can I get ya,' Mel?"  
  
"A date would be a start," he spoke in a self-assured tone Ryouga quickly recognized, but held back for the moment to let the situation play out first before acting.  
  
"I've already got a boyfriend," She answered, staying cordial. "Can I get you a drink, Mel?"  
  
"James? Oh, come on! That geek? What do you see in that little freak, anyway?"  
  
"He's a nice guy, Mel." The girl frowned, now, cordiality fading. "And he treats me like a person, not just another piece of ass."  
  
"That was then, Anne." He leaned in closer. "How about one date? For old times sake?"  
  
"I told you," She said sharply. "No."  
  
"So..." Mel stood up straight. "You want to settle for some half man, huh? Is that what you want?"  
  
"I want you to either buy something or leave, Mel. And stop calling me!"   
  
"This..." Ryouga finally took the opportunity to speak, his English crystal clear. "Is so pathetic."  
  
"Hey!" Mel looked down at Ryouga, who was still seated. "What the hell did you say?"  
  
"I said..." The lost boy stood up, finishing his drink. "This is pathetic. And by extension, you are, too. Pathetic, as in embarrassingly so."  
  
"This is none of your business." The older boy growled. "You don't want to start none of that shit with me, man!"  
  
"Mel..." The woman, Anne, warned.   
  
Both men ignored her, but Ryouga cracked a grin, one tooth dipping into the lower lip. "You look like a fighter, Mel... wasn't it?"  
  
"The best in town! I'm the top student in my class!" Mel demonstrated he wasn't lying by taking a fairly advanced conventional Shotokan Karate stance. Ryouga looked him over, and sighed, aggression dissipating. It was like getting angry at a miniature poodle for barking too much - it just couldn't do anything else.  
  
"I see... You know, I'm really, REALLY out of your league. I won't fight you, but you need to learn some... humility. Everyone does." The lost boy said, turned and headed for the door, which, luckily, was in plain view. He was bad with directions, but he wasn't that bad.  
  
"Shea' right! What's the matter? Don't run away, little guy! I didn't mean to scare you off!"  
  
Ryouga paused, and turned around, slowly. His expression hadn't changed, but he held out his hands, palms up. "I guess I really will have to teach you some humility then."  
  
That's when it started to happen.   
  
Like a switch that sets the blood aflame, the world started to slow down around the Lost Boy. Everything felt sharper, clearer, and more real than the jumbled mess that had been before. In that instant, Ryouga could virtually count every hair, every bit of stubble on the young man's face; smell his fear and anger, even touch the flickering candle of his soul. Had the American boy been more in touch with himself and the world around him, had he experience like this before, he would have realized his mistake then. But he was ignorant. Ryouga, on the other hand, was aware of everything around him.   
  
Power, beyond that any normal person could ever really understand. To most people, a man with a knife was threatening, and a man with a gun was dangerous. To Ryouga, both were largely a joke. Times like this, he wondered if this was a small sample of what it felt like to be a god. A god of fire and speed and strength... and death!   
  
Ryouga had, from his point of view, all the time in the world. The other boy's fist was only halfway between him and his opponent, and he still had time to think of a battle plan, enjoy the scenery, or even try, for once, to think of a snappy joke before he needed to make his move. Finally, the lost boy decided to act. The other boy was around eight feet away. Without a sound, he closed the distance halfway. To Mel and his friends, it's no doubt looked almost like he had teleported. Ryouga smiled inwardly at that... They were flies trying to swim through molasses, and he was a hawk soaring through the sky.  
  
While he still didn't entertain the thought that he was faster than Ranma - he wasn't, he was still far and away faster than anyone present could follow. What to do, what to do... a list of options presented itself to the young martial artist. He could draw a bandanna or two and drill the punk lightly between his eyes. It would give him a good scar and probably a concussion, but wouldn't kill. On the other hand, not feeling altogether altruistic, he could just wind-up and give him a good old-fashioned haymaker, easily powerful enough to tear through ballistic armor, or collapse the front of a speeding eighteen-wheeler. Of course, such a thing was out of the question, but the option remained. Had he actually done it, Mel's head would either have been batted clean off his shoulders or, worse, exploded like an overripe melon hit by a .44 caliber bullet from a magnum.   
  
'Kill him!'  
  
But that would make a huge mess of the diner, and wouldn't be particularly honorable, regardless of the situation. Mel struck with a right jab, well executed, and what he likely thought as being lightning speed. The room was silent in that instant, save for a hard thud followed by a howl of pain. Ryouga had his left arm up, almost casually. Mel had his hand drawn back, in plain view, both eyes wide with shock and pain. His forearm was just slightly bent, and rapidly reddening from elbow to wrist. Lowering his arm from the blocking position, Ryouga sighed.  
  
"Still want to fight me...?" Ryouga grinned, a ferocious terrible smile, promising no hope or mercy. "Or would you rather do the smart thing, and walk away? While you still can?"  
  
'Kill him!' The fire in his blood roared. 'Kill him! Break his arms! Tear his legs out of their sockets! You have the power! Use it! USE IT!'  
  
The American boy winced in pain and anger before finally drawing back, nursing his arm. "Jesus... like hitting God damn concrete..."  
  
'Use it!!'  
  
"I didn't think so." Ryouga's voice was level, and his smile faded into a normal, almost emotionless facade. His anger and frustration had come to the forefront just then, after days of wandering, and he was starting to regret not keeping it under tighter rein - he'd even scared that nice waitress lady. Finally, with the chance of danger over, the world came down from its high. Things stopped being so clear and beautiful and returned to the chaos and distraction of the not-so-real world the average man lived in and through.   
  
'use... it...'  
  
Ryouga felt, just then, the nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that he was, now, back to being just a normal human. Though sometimes, when the world was darker than usual, even he felt the need to remind myself that he wasn't, and so the lost boy would have to leap off a building, bridge or cliff just to get the rush, and the reminder, going again. Occasionally, someone would see him jump, and the police would mysteriously never find a body. And why would there be one? He always survived. And he always moved on.  
  
"Bye." Ryouga turned, went out the door and headed for the Interstate.   
  
And promptly got lost.  
  
***  
  
Past.  
  
Shampoo winced as Ryouga blocked her snap kick, ending a quick set of attacks she had thought out beforehand, and spent time the night before practicing. She found him, as usual, after his morning speed exercises with her great grandmother, to bring him back to the camp for lunch. He'd been calmer and less exhausted, not to mention frustrated, than usual then, and had suggested they spar before lunch today. She hadn't picked up on the subtly of his suggestion and the meaning behind his words until they actually began the fight. Normally, he ate before some light sparring, to let the food settle for a long eight or so hours of Bukusai Tenketsu training. Today, he'd be eating right before being pummeled by boulders with enough force behind them to easily crush an armored car, which meant...  
  
"You're letting your mind stray, Shampoo!"  
  
Shampoo chastised herself mentally, and jumped back as he tagged her lightly on the shoulder. She'd told him, numerous times, that she wouldn't mind if he hit her, though naturally nowhere near at full strength. The fact that he had refused then, and now, continued to pique her Amazon pride, and the first few times she couldn't help but take it as an insult. But time and experience showed the contrary - Ryouga had respect for her skills, or else he wouldn't be helping her, it was simply his code of honor that didn't allow him to hit a woman. Foreign and alien to an Amazon, yes, but looking back on how often he had tagged her lightly, she was silently thankful for it.  
  
"Then try this, lost boy!" Shampoo spun into a trio of fierce kicks, of which Ryouga simply fielded with hard blocks. Ryouga had stressed that his style, as it were, was one of flexibility, moving away from restrictive sets of attacks or even single attacks, and towards a more complex 'reactive' style that relied on unpredictability. He had, much to his own annoyance, said that the Hibiki School of Survival Arts was an informal one, but was, in practice, very similar to her Airen's formal Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, or School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts. Still, she noted that he had picked up preferences for certain things, and while Ranma was a dodger, preferring to avoid blows entirely, Ryouga was a blocker, preferring to either take or block blows while moving into position to strike.  
  
She had planned for this.  
  
Last night, she had practiced it a dozen times, and had it down blindfolded. Jumping into a kick, that Ryouga dodged and blocked at the same time, she tucked and spun for a trip. He braced himself, she knew without looking, and his legs didn't budge when the trip hit home. She knew the lost boy wasn't easily taken off his feet, but the trip didn't matter; it was only a feint. Putting more pressure into her hand, she felt the soft earth and closed her fingers around a buried handle.  
  
"Nani?" Ryouga's eyes widened as Shampoo pulled one of her bonbori out of the ground and lunged. Falling backwards he let it brush his nose as it passed overhead, before letting a hand stop his fall and assist a roll to the side. Kicking out with both legs, preventing Shampoo from closing the distance, he got to his feet. Shampoo spun in retaliation, her bonbori stopping inches from his ear as a powerful grip caught Shampoo's own around the handle, halting the momentum of the strike entirely.   
  
"Nice try, Shan Pu. But I could always have just done... this," he spoke in Mandarin before switching to Japanese, and tapped the Bonbori with one finger. "Bukusai Tenketsu."  
  
The bonbori cracked, shuddered, and exploded into blasted chunks. Shampoo cringed a bit as the debris hit her, but it wasn't a particularly powerful explosion, she knew, and didn't hurt too much. She smiled for him. "You learn Bukusai Tenketsu already?"  
  
"I was close last night. When the... dreams came last night, I noticed my mistake. And corrected it." Ryouga let her hand go, blushing a bit, before turning away. "I won't show granny yet, though. I've learnt it, but I still need to perfect it."  
  
"Shampoo think you obsessed."  
  
"With beating Ranma," Ryouga added. "Always, Shampoo. Don't think otherwise."  
  
"Great grandmother say you want impress violent Tendo girl."  
  
"I... I'd be lying if that wasn't part of it, too." Ryouga walked over to the now only warm bowl of ramen that they had put aside earlier. "And her name is Akane."  
  
"She violent."  
  
"'She girl,' yes, I know," Ryouga rolled his eyes as he said it, "Shampoo logic in action. But she tries not to be violent. It's just... around Ranma. And Kuno. And most of the boys in her school. And you, and Kodachi... and... er... Well, she's nice to me, anyway. Kinda."  
  
Shampoo sat nearby, her own bowl in hand. "You love her?"  
  
"Sometimes I think so. Sometimes I don't know. Right now... right now, I don't know, Shampoo. I've never had a lot of experience with girls. My curse... my family's curse, I mean. We're always lost. It doesn't help things. Hell, I don't even know if I should get involved with anyone."  
  
"What you mean?" Shampoo noted the rising tension in Ryouga's shoulders. It wasn't a comfortable subject, she could tell, but he seemed to want, or need, to talk about it.  
  
"My father gets lost. But... my mother didn't always." Ryouga sighed when he saw that Shampoo was totally lost herself. "The Hibiki family has had The Curse for a little over two and a half centuries. We were... we are a samurai family. One that bred for strength and endurance for years, according to what my father told me on one of the rare occasions we were together for any period of time. I'm stronger than the average Hibiki for my age, but not by much. The Curse, inflicted on us by enemies long since punished for what they did, was meant to keep the Hibiki family under control, and to last 'for a thousand years.' Needless to say it worked, and has been with us since. However, the old family house had wards that allowed us to find our way around inside it, and not wander off. The Hibiki Family, at least, stayed together. We could stay home when we wanted to, and wander... when we wanted to."  
  
Shampoo nodded. "What happened?"  
  
"The house burnt down in a firebombing raid on Tokyo. The wards were lost. We had no idea how to reproduce them, and the priest that had, originally, made them was long dead. A new one was built, the house we have now. Have... but don't live in." Ryouga slurped a mouthful of noodles. "No one lives in it. ...Except the dog."  
  
"Shampoo not understand! Why not just wait in house?"  
  
"It doesn't work that way, Shampoo. ...I wish it did. I always end up outside, and then its impossible to find a way back inside for at LEAST a week. But that's not the worst of it. I mentioned that my mother wasn't always lost."  
  
Shampoo remembered.  
  
"It runs in the family, but it isn't hereditary."  
  
"Shampoo still not understand."  
  
"It... If I married Akane... If she loved me, as... If we got married, she would slowly start to get lost, too, until she was as bad as I am. My mother hates that my father never told her before they got married and had me, and neither my uncle nor my aunt, on the Cursed side, have children. They don't want to, and who could blame them? It's a miserable life to subject a child to. Besides, who could love someone with a Curse like mine?"  
  
Shampoo didn't know what to say, but tried anyway, "Eight hundred year from now, child born who not get lost, right?"  
  
"Supposedly." Ryouga finished the bowl, and leaned back, looking up at the sky. "But his parents would still be lost all the time. Anyway, enough about my family... it's depressing."  
  
"Sure." Shampoo picked up his empty bowl, put it on top of hers, and put them away.   
  
Ryouga simply took in the clouds. They sky was almost clear of them, high above the trees, and any day that it wasn't going to rain was a good day. He'd quickly come to hate... no, hate was too weak a word. Loathe. He'd quickly come to loathe Nerima's erratic rainstorms, water-splashing women, old and young, inconveniently placed sprinkler systems and easily broken or exploded plumping network. The whole place was like Tokyo's water hazard or something.  
  
"Why you really like Akane?"   
  
"Didn't you ask me that?" Ryouga grumbled, concentrating on more calming thoughts.  
  
"Shampoo ask if you love her. You say sometimes." Shampoo sat down next to him. She was still wearing her battle armor, which she had lately taken to wearing during their sparring sessions. "Never ask why."  
  
"What does it matter?" Ryouga felt a bit nervous about the topic.  
  
"Shampoo not stupid. She suspect Airen have feelings for violent girl."  
  
"And you think they're for the same reasons as mine?" Ryouga became strangely silent. It was almost a minute before he continued. "I don't know. I don't know if Ranma loves her or not, Shampoo. There's something there, under the surface, but I don't know what it is. I... I do know she thinks of Ranma a lot."  
  
Ryouga clenched his fists. "You've seen me transform. You know what I am."  
  
"You mean little black pig?"  
  
"Pet pig!" Ryouga's voice bordered on a snarl, but aside from his almost chalk white fists he hadn't moved. "You want to know how it started, Shampoo? ...To make a comparison between us? I'll tell you, then! She kissed me in my cursed form! She kissed me, hugged me, and named me P-chan, and I fell for her. I fell hard, and I never got back up."  
  
Jumping to his feet, he saw Cologne waiting and walked over to the matriarch, quicker than normal. Looking over his shoulder, he growled, "I'm the last person to be giving out advice on relationships."  
  
An hour later the formerly quiet forest was rocked with the sound of explosions.  
  
***  
  
Present.  
  
It didn't hurt to be careful.  
  
Granted, Hibiki Ryouga never claimed to be a particularly careful person. He routinely destroyed walls and other things that got into the way and couldn't easily be gotten around, he got overly emotional, and... No, careful he wasn't. Quite the contrary, as both a martial artist and a wanderer, he had seen more than enough danger, and most of it he had jumped into willingly. Even his Jyusenkyou curse was partly his fault, both for being careless in a moment of weakness and dropping his guard, and for following Ranma in the first place. But danger was par d' course in the pursuit of revenge, he knew that. Still, he tried to be careful, even if he wasn't.  
  
The stewardess smiled as the young man smiled up at her nervously. He was cute, in a rugged, somewhat dangerous way. Though that small scar, just under his left eye, was a bit odd, "What would you like for the in-flight meal, sir?"  
  
"Excuse me, ma'am, but... what flight is this?"  
  
The stewardess blinked, a blank look on her face. "Excuse me?"  
  
"The flight. Where is it to?"  
  
"You're flying First Class on a flight and you're not sure where it's going?"  
  
"Er..."  
  
He certainly didn't seem to be joking. Finally she humored him. "Flight 102 non stop to Narita Airport."  
  
Ryouga nodded in recognition. Once on the island, it'd only be a matter of time before he hit Nerima, Tokyo. "Thank you. I wasn't... sure exactly where this plane was going to land."  
  
"Oh." The stewardess seemed to accept that. "What'll you have for dinner, sir?"  
  
"The steak. It'll probably be the last time I have that for a while," Ryouga said a bit too loudly and leaned back on his isle-side chair. Traveling on planes was always a gamble, at least for a Hibiki. More often than not, it took you more off course than you were to begin with, so it was generally reserved for emergencies. The expense wasn't a major problem; the family was easily well off enough for it, especially since so little of the actual money in the account was used. His mother and father spend all their time wandering; the money simply sat there and accrued interest.  
  
"What'll it be, sir?" The waitress asked the man sitting next to Ryouga.  
  
"Ahl ave de chicken, wahine."  
  
The lost boy shuddered at the bad attempt at English, but otherwise ignored the other man. His thoughts turned back to Nerima, and why exactly he was returning. Was it because he had sworn to? Was it because he was curious? Or was it because he was lonely and tired of listlessly wandering foreign streets? Did he really have anywhere else to go? The plane had been in the air for only a half hour, he estimated, though it was a pretty rough estimate. The Hibiki sense of time is worse than usual, but thankfully nowhere near as bad as their sense of direction. So often it was like this - just him and his thoughts. In them, he was as free to get lost as anywhere. Usually, it was the only thing to alleviate the...  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Aloha! Me was jus thinkin' dat ya hair need a clippin!" A pair of hand shears waved threateningly in midair. Threatening to normal people and to hair, anyway.  
  
"So you were going to cut my hair?"  
  
"Ya."  
  
"In a plane?"  
  
"Ya."  
  
"While I slept?"  
  
"Ya!"  
  
Ryouga noticed, then, the odd ...tree-like hair design sticking out of the man's head. Or at least he hoped it was just a design. "Can I see your shears first?"  
  
The weirdo had one in each hand, and seemed almost proud to display them. With a single, swift, motion, Ryouga grabbed each, and squeezed. The metal crumpled like tin foil, into a useless mess that hardly resembled anything anymore. Closing his eyes halfway, the young martial artist relaxed in his chair and crossed his hands over his belt. "Touch my hair, and I'll do that to your hands."  
  
"..."  
  
"Wake me up when dinner's here. Thanks." Closing his eyes, Ryouga decided to change topics of thought. He'd been looking to further his knowledge of Indonesian Serak for a while now, and the Hibiki memory, especially in regards to martial arts, was still as yet un-cursed, even if the rest of his body and soul was. He'd picked it up, first, a while back, before he first came to Nerima, and had been searching for, or more exactly kept on the look out for, a chance to further his study of it. Unfortunately, the opportunity hadn't yet presented itself.   
  
The style stressed efficient body movements and timing in combat, and was almost entirely offensive in nature while emphasizing in close fighting. What Ryouga himself knew he had made good use of, but it was still incomplete and imperfect. Devoting time to study, improvise and extrapolate on a style was important, especially for himself. Because of his... directional problems, he had learnt that the most efficient way of learning new styles was to observe it in action or in practice, in its entirety, and allow a few days for contemplation and absorption into his own overall style.  
  
In the meantime, he really hoped that freak wouldn't mess with his hair. Breaking his hands would probably upset everyone involved, and he'd upset enough people on this little excursion as it was. More than normal...  
  
***  
  
Past.  
  
Shampoo paused, unsure.  
  
In her mind, what she normally considered a minor thing was being turned over and re-examined. The splashing was audible now, and she knew where he was practicing, and about his state of dress (or lack thereof). At first, Shampoo had resolved herself simply to look and see whether he was as close to learning the Amaguriken as he had been the Bakusai Tenketsu yesterday. The fact that he trained for it naked was little more than a perk - such was the way of things in Amazon society. Her Airen didn't seem to mind, at least a lot, when she looked at him or vice versa, but Ryouga... the lost boy was a different matter entirely.   
  
  
  
She knew he was unusually nervous around and about the female anatomy, and that he was similarly shy about himself. Why, Shampoo couldn't fathom; both he and Ranma were built quite well, and she had, after all, already seen him when he transformed out of his pig form back in the Nekohanten. It was almost noon. The splashing had stopped, and the option of asking was, at the moment, more tempting than ever, but the lost boy still hadn't totally admitted to knowing the Bakusai Tenketsu, and she had SEEN him do it! In light of that, it seemed likely he'd deny knowing the Amaguriken, even if he knew the technique.  
  
The whole situation was confusing, so Shampoo did what she always did in situations where she couldn't come to a rational decision, and went with her instincts. Looking over the concealing bushes, careful not to make noise, Shampoo watched. To her silent dismay, he only had his shirt off, obviously to keep it from getting wet. Cologne was next to him, kettle off to the side, watching. The old woman's eyes passed by Shampoo, and stayed there. The urge to bolt under her great grandmother's gaze was strong, but it quickly left her and went back to the raging water where it belonged, leaving Shampoo with enough dignity and wits to stay. To Shampoo, it was enough approval to stick around.  
  
Ryouga's shoulders tensed, one hand inching a bit forward, letting the other hang back. Shampoo then noticed one additional thing: both her great grandmother and her pupil had moved downstream, where it was shallower. When, without warning, the lost boy's hands became a blur, she quickly saw why. Instead of catching fish, which likely had fled the area (and what animal wouldn't?), he was plucking pebbles off the bottom of the stream. It only seemed to last a second before Ryouga's hands stopped in midair, still slightly trembling, and he leaned back, winded but dry. In front of his crossed legs, between his knees, Shampoo could just barely see a small pile of stones.  
  
"How... how was that, granny? Fast enough?"  
  
Cologne looked down at the pile, and said, simply, "Son-in-law is faster still."  
  
"Damn. Let me catch my breath, I'll try again."  
  
"Tomorrow." Cologne spied Shampoo, and the younger Amazon quickly retreated.  
  
"Sure." Ryouga slowly got to his feet and stood up, not noticing anything out of the normal. "Should I continue the Bakusai Tenketsu training later today?"  
  
"It has served its purpose. Only practice will make you more comfortable and proficient with the technique itself now."  
  
"Right. Should I just wait for Shampoo like normal, or..." Ryouga frowned. "Where do you head off to every day, anyway? At the same time?"  
  
"Do you really want to know?" Cologne regretted saying that: of course the boy meant what he said. She sighed. "My future Son-in-law is also training on this mountain."  
  
"Ah." Ryouga's frown deepened into a scowl. A little too quickly, Cologne thought to herself. Before he could say another word, she bounded off without a sound. He was about to run after her, simply on impulse, when he caught himself and stayed in place.   
  
"Ranma... two days," he said, in an attempt at a villain cliché voice, "Two days until I destroy you!"  
  
"Nihao!" Shampoo poked him in the back, causing Ryouga to jump five feet in the air, totally ruining the mood.  
  
"Don't DO that!" He whirled, and calmed instantly. "Still, I'm glad you're here. Shampoo... I should probably tell you something. I just found out... I'm not the only one training on this mountain..."  
  
Shampoo blinked as his sentence ended there. "And?"  
  
"And..." Ryouga couldn't seem to push it past his lips. Telling Shampoo was both the honest thing to do, and the right thing to do. Granted, she had an unhealthy fixation on a bastard SOB who would only break her heart, and likely that of a half dozen other girls, but he knew he should tell her that he was here. He didn't want to; she'd likely run off without another thought. Still, over the last few days he'd never lied to her, why break a streak like that? Besides, what did he have to lose?  
  
"Ranma's also around here somewhere. Cologne goes to spy on him around now."  
  
"Shampoo know that," she stated, oblivious to the effort he had spent on that simple statement.  
  
"You know?" He exclaimed.  
  
"Of course Shampoo know." Shampoo bluffed. She had just found out herself, overhearing her great grandmother tell Ryouga, but decided it was something better kept to herself. True, she was tempted to go off and first find, then see, Ranma. But he was always there, and she'd see him at the duel in two days anyway, so it was a minor thing. Besides, Ranma never actually spent time with her, or even talked, or tried to be her friend like Ryouga did. Considering Ranma had the luck to marry the best fighter (and, in Shampoo's opinion, the cutest fighter) in the Joketsuzoku village, he didn't seem to be especially grateful or enthusiastic about it.   
  
"Oh." Ryouga chuckled to himself nervously. "Good."  
  
As the two walked back to the camp, Ryouga spoke up, "Hey... I've got a day and a half's worth of training to do, and no one to do it with. I was kinda wondering if... uh... you'd help me?"  
  
"Silly lost boy! Of course Shampoo help after you eat."  
  
"Great!" Ryouga held out a large handful of small round stones and gave them to Shampoo. "We'll start with those, and take a break when they're all gone!"  
  
Shampoo just looked down at the stones in her hand and back up at him.  
  
"Throw them at me!" Ryouga held his left hand behind his back, and his right forward, index finger forward. Shampoo crouched, and started flicking them, the first three at low speed. The lost boy easily intercepted them with his finger, and each exploded in a small cloud of dust. In bursts, next, Shampoo fired them, building up to top speed. Matching the tiny projectiles, Ryouga's hand became a blur, as she had seen them do before. Knowing he'd intercept any she threw, Shampoo poured half of the remaining stones into her other hand, and used both to send a steam of them his way. His arm was still moving incredibly quickly, but she could see behind it that he was already breathing very heavily, in somewhat undisciplined gasps. When her supply ran out, and the last pebble exploded in midair, Ryouga fell forward, stopped from hitting the ground only by his still rested left hand.  
  
"Look exhausting." Shampoo nudged him with her foot, and he slowly recovered, his breathing turning steady.   
  
Standing up, he smiled. "That's the point."  
  
"Good. Then lost boy too, too tired to put off eat." She dragged him by his other arm and tossed him to the ground. To his credit, he struggled a little.  
  
"Geez. Alright."   
  
He ate contently. The ramen was even better than before, but it disappeared just as quickly. With it finished, two things warred for attention in the mind of Hibiki Ryouga. By the end of the fight, in two days, both were moot points, anyway.  
  
***  
  
Present.  
  
"Curse that Saotome!"  
  
Tatewaki Kuno, oft times called the Blue Thunder (at least in his own mind) of Furinkan High School, repeated his proclamation once more for the world to take to heart before sneezing loudly, and at least in his opinion, proudly. Pride was, after all, essential to life as a Kuno, and Tatewaki, as the heir to the name, and the de facto head of the family, knew he always had his pride to fall back on. Even as, earlier today, the vile Sorcerer had publicly humiliated them both, no doubt in a vain effort to make a mockery of the great name of Tatewaki Kuno, even at the minor price of his own tiny sense of self-esteem.   
  
What had started out as a semi-honorable duel had quickly degraded into a hellish display of ...of ...Kuno wasn't sure what it had degraded into, but it hadn't been the noble pursuit it began as. Just a scant two days ago, the Scion of the House Kuno had developed a dark case of the uncommon cold - uncommon, in that surly no ordinary cold could or would so dare taunt death by attacking the well nigh impenetrable immune system of the Blue Thunder, and dark in that no MERE, unaided, disease had a chance of infecting Tatewaki Kuno... unless, of course, it had some dark benefactor behind its mysterious resurgence. No doubt, the vile Saotome Ranma, knowing that no physical attack could fell the righteous Blue Thunder, resorted to dishonorable biological attacks on his person. Hence, Kuno had decided, upon great meditation (and sleeping) to pay back the sorcerer by giving it to him as well!  
  
"Ah, the thwarted irony of such a magnificent plan!" Kuno's eyes watered liberally. Sadly, when his great plan had been made manifest, and he had begun attempts to spread the disease to Saotome (by sneezing on him), the fiend, perhaps driven by fear and desperation, clung to his person. Vigorously, even! Ignoring the long lavender haired maiden, and holding fast to the torso of the Blue Thunder, and even doing so far as to do it again, in front of everyone, and say: 'I can't help myself!'  
  
"The... the knave!" Kuno sneezed again, and held his bokken to the air, in a silent vow of vengeance, ready to run off and get revenge. "I shall have my...!"  
  
Kodachi's piercing laugh ruined the moment. "Oh, brother dear!"  
  
"What?" Kuno held in a sneeze and slowly turned around. Standing next to his twisted sister was a man, wearing a coat over unusually brightly colored clothes. Especially seeing as it was late fall. Still, he seemed... slightly familiar.   
  
And why was his left hand all bandaged up?  
  
Shampoo hadn't had this much fun in weeks. The appearance of the Kairaishi mushroom earlier in the day had come both as a surprise and as an unexpected boon. The plan had been simple: use its abilities to make an obviously uncommitted and unresponsive Ranma more... open to advances and suggestion, even if it was through the use of 'black magic.' With Mousse out of town training by himself, things had been both slow and boring, much to Shampoo's chagrin. Worse, over the weeks, Ranma seemed to have grown more and more short tempered around her, often being downright unfriendly. She'd have been heartbroken if she hadn't seen it coming - by this point, heartbreak had been replaced by anger and annoyance, little more. Still, a girl had to have her fun...  
  
Neko-shampoo purred as Ranma ran through the house with her in his arms. Tears were streaking down his cheeks and his eyes were dilated to the point that one would think he'd had something on the level of a cerebral hemorrhage. One little sneeze had done it, she was still amazed by that, and it'd even overcome his fear of her cursed form. On that topic, she idly wondered why she felt more comfortable in his arms, even though he was screaming like a madman/woman, as a cat instead of a person. True, he was strong and she liked hugging him as a girl, but there was something different when one was an animal. Idly, she remembered the Lost Boy saying something similar months ago, the day before the fight, when they'd talked about their mutual curses.  
  
Sudden heat interrupted her thoughts, and she felt her body change. It tingled slightly, she suspected it was from the size change and the fur, but it was like second nature by this time to undergo the transformation. Shampoo took it in stride.  
  
"Nihao!"  
  
"Ssshhammpooo!!!" Ranma seemed more than a little upset. "GET THIS SPELL OFFA ME!!"  
  
"No want to," Shampoo said, and meant it. It was both amusing, and she really had no idea how to undo it anyway.   
  
A swift Tendo Akane-mallet attack cut Ranma off before he could reply. "Okay, Okay, I believe you! Now get away from there!"  
  
There, of course, referring to Shampoo, the Amazon knew. She scowled; why did this girl always get in the way? If she wanted Ranma, and Shampoo knew Akane did, why not just say so and get it out in the open? There was a place for deceit, and a place for honesty in Amazon society, and the latter almost always came before the former.  
  
"So this IS all your fault, Shampoo!" Akane huffed, the mallet no longer visible through the steam of the hot bath.  
  
"I had to go through all this to convince you?" Ranma grumbled loudly, both girls ignored him.  
  
"Ranma! Now you hold Shampoo!" Shampoo produced a handy Peppershaker (From where is any guess. She was naked when she went into the tub).  
  
"I don't..." Akane intercepted the pepper and inhaled it. Shampoo could see the Tendo girl was more than willing to 'take' the hug from Ranma in her stead. "T...think ssso!"  
  
"Akane! What you doing?!" Shampoo snarled, but when Akane sneezed, nothing happened. Both girls looked around, and neither saw Ranma.  
  
"This is too much! I guess I'll be sleeping outdoors tonight... Man, why do these things happen to me?" Ranma thought, running across the top of the wall just outside the dojo. He paused, when another form, partially obscured by the darkness, stepped in front of him as it rounded one of the wall's corners. Slowly, the map in the man's hands lowered, revealing a heavy forward swept mass of black hair, and the hint of the yellow and black bandanna that kept it in place.  
  
The lost boy was back. 


	3. Learning Curve part 3

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part III (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
The old woman had chosen the site well.  
  
But, no doubt, in the three hundred plus years of her life, she had had enough practice in it to do it. Trees surrounded the small field, save for a large rock outcropping, and there was no water in sight. Ryouga, still, had come prepared, and he checked over his shoulder to make sure Shampoo still held the kettle of hot, though not boiling, water in case it was needed. She had been solemn the last day, he had noticed. Their practice had been more frequent than their conversations, which he was both thankful and saddened by.   
  
Thankful, because he didn't need additional distractions, sad because he honestly enjoyed talking to her, even if so much of it was in broken Japanese. The last two days, he'd simply slipped into Mandarin to make understanding her descriptions of Amazon life and customs easier and clearer. Most likely, she was still feeling... apprehensive about the fight. She understood, now, that this was how it had to be - that things between the two, Ranma and himself, could not be settled by words, or any other fashion.  
  
The first fight between them that had started behind Furinkan High, in the old soccer field, had been inconclusive, in Ryouga's opinion. Ranma had been splashed, he'd found out about his curse, but before it could be joined properly, Akane's hair had been cut and she'd almost lost her life. Of course, in the lost boy's opinion, it was as much Ranma's fault as it was his. The pig-tailed martial artist had back kicked the weapon out of his hands, in just the right way to send it at the girl... but it was his weapon, and ultimately his responsibility. He hadn't used his more lethal techniques since then, and though few knew it, he fought far more carefully and cautiously than ever before after that. Deep inside, Ryouga knew that fight would have been his if that interruption hadn't occurred. Ranma was in his girl form, and no real match for his power and abilities outside of his normal body.   
  
The second fight, really, had been outside the Tendo Dojo in the rain, just before his curse had been revealed. He'd only had one hand to use, the other having to hold up his umbrella, but it was evened out by the fact that Ranma was girl-Ranma, and had lacked both reach and strength in the subsequent fight. Again, he'd been easily holding his own, and staying dry, before a heavy object that he later figured out had to have been thrown by Akane (both by his memories of a female voice other than Ranma's and the strength behind the throw) nailed him in the back of the head. Had he been prepared to receive it, the blow wouldn't have been a huge problem, but it caught him by surprise while he was committed to an attack on a very skilled opponent.   
  
Typically, he had gotten wet in addition to being hurt, and tried to make a dignified escape. The lost boy knew that, had Ranma found out, he'd never hear the end of it, and true to form, Ranma did find out and he never did hear the end of the incessant 'P-chan' 'hog' and 'pig-boy' taunts. Again, Akane had interfered, but again, he blamed himself as much. Though truly vengeance knew neither day nor night, and he was afraid of getting lost waiting until morning, he should have known that a fight at such an hour would invite intervention.  
  
There had been some minor skirmishes following that, but nothing major or serious that both men committed themselves to until the so-called 'Charlotte Cup' in which P-chan was the prize. Ranma had taken a few blows, and a fairly major crash, but seemed otherwise fine when he broke free and decided to intervene. That, and Ryouga himself barely knew how to stand up in skates while Ranma had much more practice, he figured, made it a draw with the more experienced on the ice but somewhat injured Ranma-chan. It had quickly degraded into a free for all, and when Ryouga had smashed Mikado Sanzenin between two huge slabs of ice in a desperation counter to his flying kick, he had felt the rush of victory nipping at his heels. He'd then buried both the pervert and Ranma under what had to be more than a few tons of icy debris.   
  
Of course, Ranma proved as tenacious as always, crawling out from under the rubble less than twenty seconds later. The danger of getting wet, a mere annoyance for Ranma, was Ryouga's greatest fear. While Ranma could get wet and fight on, even a minor dunking would end it for the lost boy. Hence, in the ensuing fight, Ranma did the one thing he could when still in girl form, and tried to turn Ryouga the Rival into P-chan the Pet. Akane's intervention however, changed the course of things before he could be dunked at a critical moment, and Ranma had quickly lost any momentum he had in their fight. He... she was slowing, and obviously close to defeat, when Akane fell into the water and...   
  
That had ended the fight. Both boys had jumped in, but in the end, only a pig and a girl came out. He'd essentially left soon after to pursue additional training in the mountains without distraction. It had become obvious to Ryouga that Ranma wasn't improving skill-wise anytime soon, and that with a little extra push he could finally overcome him completely and compensate for his greatest handicap, his damned Jyusenkyou curse. It had thus been, naturally, a surprise when he'd returned and Ranma had completely surpassed him. However, the pig-tailed boy would soon learn that the pendulum swung both ways, and more importantly...  
  
That payback was the mother of all bitches.  
  
Oh yes. She was indeed.  
  
"We here." Shampoo's voice was almost monotone. Only seconds had passed since the two stepped into the clearing.   
  
"I know." Ryouga slowly looked up, and confirmed the form of Ranma standing in the middle of the field, amid the somewhat parched grass and broken ground. It was dry as a bone, and just the way Ryouga knew both men wanted it. Ranma's pigtail was catching a bit of the wind, and in the moment he truly embodied both the foul arrogance Ryouga knew he himself had, but tried to fight, and the Art that Ryouga aspired to. Was the price of being the 'best' an ego of proportional size?   
  
Then, Ryouga saw her.  
  
"Akane!" He couldn't help but yelp, in surprise and confusion. Akane was hanging by her waist from the branch of a tree - she didn't look hurt: mostly angry. "What... what's going on here?"  
  
"Perhaps I can explain," A familiar voice cackled, and all present turned towards Cologne, who hopped seemingly out of no-where into the middle of the clearing, near Ranma. "I though the fight would be better if there were a prize at stake."  
  
Ranma's upper lip snarled, a bit. Ryouga's did far more, and then some, his longer than natural canines now easily visible as he roared. "NO! Damn it, Akane has nothing to do with this!"  
  
"Don't you...?" Cologne teased.  
  
"... No..." Ryouga's voice was cold, despite the moment's hesitation, and crystal clear in the air as he spoke, "Not like this. Akane is not some... prize to be handed out to the victor here!" Realizing something, he smirked. "Ironically enough, Ranma showed me that when we fought at the ice rink. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I understand. Finally, I understand..." Ryouga cracked his knuckles. "No. I fight ONLY to defeat Ranma! ONLY... to finish our duel. If... If Akane has anything to do with me, it will be by choice. Her choice."  
  
Ranma's eyes betrayed his thoughts: 'I won't allow it. Akane is MY fiancée!!'  
  
'That's what I thought,' Ryouga's own thoughts mirrored his rival, and he jumped, landing only a dozen feet from his opponent. With a smirk, he said what both thought.   
  
"Let's settle this, Ranma!"  
  
"Gladly, Pig boy." Ranma's hands became fists, Ryouga attacked, and in the blink of an eye, the battle was joined. It began with a flurry of blows, fast, but not fast enough to tag the pig-tailed blur among them. Ranma ducked and dodged the strikes, each fist marked by a threatening index finger. The pig tailed martial artist was silently thankful for his father and his ways - dishonorable, yes, but effective, just as much so. He had been tempted to spy on Ryouga's training by himself when he'd first seen Cologne and they'd set the date for this thing. He'd put it off a little while, mainly to deal with Akane, when Genma had gone off and done it for him. It seemed that his old man hardly had any pride to lose in doing such a thing, though of course, it was a critical part of the practice of Anything-Goes. The whole point, he'd been taught, and firmly believed, of a fight was to win.   
  
Nothing more, nothing less.   
  
And in so doing, the ends justified the means. If it involved running from the fight, the school allowed it. If it involved stealing techniques, down to the name, the school allowed it. Truthfully, the School of Anything-Goes allowed anything and everything, honor aside. Ranma liked to believe he was above that, really, but he knew as well as his father did that if he had to, winning was what Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu was about. Jumping back and out of the way of a well timed, but a bit too slow axe kick, Ranma paused to access his rival anew. He was faster, true, a little calmer and more skilled, also true. But what, really, had improved?  
  
Ryouga smiled, as if reading the other boy's mind. Ranma was still as fast as ever. A little faster than when he'd been manhandled and humiliated by him back in Nerima, yes, but much faster... no. Rather, he was more flexible and quicker to dodge than he had been in previous fights. An effective counter to what he had thought the Bakusai Tenketsu capable of, but now knew wasn't. Ranma should have figured it out. Why would the old ghoul teach him a technique that would destroy exactly what she was trying to win for her precious Shampoo? And... who, exactly, had told Ranma that his rival was learning the Bakusai Tenketsu?   
  
"Like to see it, would you?" Ryouga held up his index finger, like the barrel of a gun, and pointed at his opponent. "To think... I can destroy you with a touch. Even a ...glancing blow, and you'll be nothing more than a pile of split entrails and torn flesh. And, the funny thing is, your breaking point could be almost anywhere."  
  
Ranma twitched, and Ryouga knew he'd scored a minor victory. Ranma hadn't quite come to terms with what he apparently thought the Bakusai Tenketsu could do to him. His fear would work against him; Ryouga swore it. Roaring, he jumped, hand down and aimed at the smaller boy. Ranma's eyes widened like a frightened deer, and he performed a small, quick jump to easily get out of the way. An infusion of Ki hit the ground just as Ryouga did, and the earth below his feet exploded. It was a simple, midrange explosion - he had just enough control over it now to slightly vary the effect. Spraying dust and shrapnel everywhere, none of which could hurt Ryouga anyway, the blast formed an effective cover.   
  
"Geez!" Ranma's right hand was a blur, catching the rock fragments in midair before they could hit him and depositing them in his cupped left hand. Save for some dust on his clothes, Ranma was unscathed. "What is this? A smoke screen?"  
  
"HYAH!" Ranma's head cocked to the side just as Ryouga's finger tore through the air. He flew by, his hand burying into the ground behind Ranma, evoking another explosion of earth and rock. Ryouga skidded through the blast, feet kicking up dust as he slowed, and without hesitation, jumped again at Ranma. He switched to both hands, forcing Ranma into a complex weave of ducks and dodges to avoid being tagged. Interspersed with the attacks was the occasional regular jab or counter, but largely, Ranma was on the defensive.   
  
Above them, Akane shifted slightly to try and follow the fight. She was a martial artist herself, and had spent the last few days watching Ranma train with his father. It had been grueling, at least to her, trying to dodge and stun all those bees without being stung, yet Ranma had done it. But Ryouga... Ryouga seemed to have spent all this time learning a technique that couldn't help him. She'd heard about it, naturally, and it seemed powerful; the ability to destroy with a touch, but what good was it when Ranma was too fast to be hit? And when Ryouga missed, he ended up hitting the ground. The result was that shrapnel pummeled Ryouga because he was at the center of the blast, and Ranma was left with only a fraction of the debris to deal with, and deal with much more easily.   
  
"I don't understand," Akane voiced her confusion, and seeing Shampoo below her, rephrased what she was thinking. "Why would Cologne teach such a thing? I though she wanted Ryouga to beat Ranma!"  
  
"Silly violent girl." Shampoo snorted in derision.  
  
Cologne agreed. "You will see soon enough what my pupil has learned. And the true power behind the Bakusai Tenketsu."  
  
In the field, Ranma and Ryouga's feet shifted back and forth as the lost boy continued to strike and his opponent dodge. Ryouga hopped over an attempted trip, and replied with a roundhouse forcing Ranma to duck. Normally, he'd attempt to get some breathing and maneuvering room at this point, but as Ryouga spun and saw Ranma, eyes watching his hands, he decided to press the issue. It was time to show Ranma just what he was up against. A trio of quick strikes forced Ranma to twist to avoid, and the smaller boy grinned. "You're slowing down, P-chan! Any more of those Breaking Point blasts, and you'll put yourself out of action for me!"  
  
"Stuff it!" Ryouga snarled, lunged, and in so doing, overextended himself.   
  
Ranma pivoted, expertly, into position. "Then maybe I should end this... right now!"  
  
A vicious snap kick caught Ryouga across the jaw. Ranma felt his leg protest a bit; he'd put a lot of power into that blow, but with a lethal technique like the Bakusai Tenketsu in Ryouga's arsenal, he knew better than to tempt fate by trading blows with him and asking for a lucky blow to end his life in a most grizzly fashion. Ryouga arched through the air, and crashed into the side of the nearby rock outcropping, just as the pig-tailed martial artist had planned. Ryouga landed hard, and with him fell a small landslide of stone and earth, thoroughly burying him. Ranma smirked. "Heh. Easier than I thought."  
  
Then, he saw Shampoo jump up and away out of the corner of his eye.  
  
He also saw Akane's eyes widen in surprise and look past him, in Ryouga's direction. What he saw when he faced that direction... was a dark crack in the earth from the depths of the landslide to the tips of his toes. A massive explosion, dwarfing the previous ones, easily consumed three-dozen square feet of the ground below, and quickly droned out his gasp of surprise. Hanging from Akane's rope, he saw the shadow of a familiar figure emerge from the settling cloud of dust and debris. It was Ryouga.   
  
And he was laughing.  
  
"It... it can't be!" Ranma gasped.  
  
"Weak! That felt like a baby's kick, Ranma!" Ryouga smirked, one canine sticking out over his left lip. "No. Actually, it felt like a little girl's kick!"  
  
Akane was speechless. Ranma's ears, meanwhile, practically steamed in anger, but he held himself back from jumping into the fray, if only for a few seconds. "You...!"  
  
"Still think you can beat him, son-in-law?" Cologne's wrinkled face seemed to gloat from above him. Standing on the branch to which Akane was tied, Cologne seemed quite pleased with herself.  
  
"Damn it, old ghoul! I can beat him anytime! I trained too, damn it!"  
  
"You practiced dodging," Akane pointed out.  
  
"I... uh..."  
  
"Still think you can win?" Akane's voice held a hint of malice.  
  
"Hey! What's with the attitude?"   
  
Akane frowned. "Just be careful and..."  
  
"Hold that thought!" Ranma suddenly turned from her and ducked, as a razor edged bandanna-made-shuriken passed overhead and cut the rope holding them up. Ranma frowned in frustration and anger - the bandanna hadn't been thrown to kill, or else he'd likely have it sticking through his chest, but he had let Akane distract him from the fight, and the danger that Ryouga had become. Shifting, he caught Akane and aimed for a soft landing. He was thankful she didn't cause a fuss, and let her go just before he touched ground.  
  
"I don't need any help Ranma," Akane said, her previous anger still present, but outwardly keeping calm. Ranma tried not to look surprised. She had learned that her cooking was... sub par recently, but Ranma had eaten it. More out of necessity than anything, but he had. The last few days had been far from perfect, but they'd been bearable after the first two. Once past the cooking problem, they'd had a good enough time together between the training sessions. Ranma supposed that was why she wasn't flying off the handle at the moment. Besides, Ryouga had said she had no place in this fight, and she must have known that he thought the same way. It was best for both of them in the long run if she didn't interfere, and she knew it.  
  
"Neither do I." Ranma stressed, and turned to where Ryouga stood, calm and unafraid of anything Ranma could throw at him. He didn't hesitate, before jumping back into the fight. Ryouga just grinned, and brought one finger forward, a faint but visible battle aura beginning to form around him, starting at the shoulders and rippling down his form like a dark cloak.  
  
"Bakusai Tenk..."  
  
"Bakusai Tenketsu BLOCK!" Ranma's momentum came to a halt as he caught Ryouga's finger at the base between two of his own. For a tangible half second, the two hung there, paused in midair, before Ryouga's grin faded. He spun, taking Ranma with him, before coming to an abrupt halt, slamming the smaller boy's feet firmly into the ground. Ranma shook from the impact, but knew what was going to happen next. Ryouga's other hand was already cocked and incoming. Quickly, desperately, Ranma brought two fingers up to block Ryouga's one.  
  
Then Ryouga's right index finger retreated into his fist, which subsequently plowed through the Bakusai Tenketsu Block and became well acquainted with Ranma's jaw. Ranma tasted blood, and again became personally reminded of why being hit, full force, by Hibiki Ryouga was a very unhealthy thing. He felt his body fly back through the air, before a tug, starting around his right wrist brought him back forward like a human yo-yo. He saw, in that instant, that Ryouga's right hand was around the wrist of his right hand. The same hand that still held Ryouga's left index finger in a Bakusai Tenketsu Block. After that, stars filled the air as Ryouga's elbow dented itself on his collarbone and a perfectly executed backhand sent him flying back and into a tree. In the subsequent impact, the old oak had the worst of it, but not by a lot.  
  
Ranma got to his feet, a bit dazed, but quickly recovering. Ryouga's blows had been like those of an industrial strength pile driver; he was even stronger than Ranma remembered from past fights. Spitting blood, Ranma received Ryouga as he charged, both hands in the position for a fight ending Bakusai Tenketsu. Rolling back, and not willing to make the same mistake twice, Ranma easily caught the first strike, and lunged with his right hand to get the other before the lost boy could curl it into a fist. Ranma knew all too well that he'd made an almost fatal mistake. Ryouga had made him commit to blocking a Bakusai Tenketsu, the block for which, unfortunately, was useless against a regular fist. Ryouga snarled, just inches from Ranma's face, as they rolled with both boys' momentum. With practiced ease, in unison, they pushed off - Ranma with his legs and Ryouga with his knees, going airborne.  
  
"Now! With both hands blocked... you're mine!" Ranma's right leg struck out a dozen times, like an angry serpent, pummeling Ryouga's midriff even as they flew together through the air. Blow after blow landed, and Ryouga's back arched slightly from it all, before slamming, full force, into the broad base of another tree. The poor tree split up the middle from the impact, spraying them with droplets of sap, and Ryouga's back, crushed between the tree and Ranma's blows, straightened out as they slid to the ground.  
  
The lost boy looked up, and chuckled. "I told you... Ranma..."  
  
Ranma felt his lower lip tremble. How had the lost boy survived that? It was inhuman!  
  
"You hit like a GIRL!" Ryouga's hair filled Ranma's vision as the unexpected head butt struck true, sending Ranma flying and skidding off the ground and into another tree.  
  
"Ok, that hurt." Ranma slowly got to his feet, worse for wear than he had been when he had gotten up just a short while ago. It was like a bad case of deja'vu, and Ranma knew it wasn't getting him anywhere. "I didn't want to do this, Ryouga!"  
  
"Oh? And what's that? I do hope it's something good." Ryouga took a few slow steps forward.  
  
"SAOTOME SECRET TECHNIQUE!"  
  
"What? Secret technique?" Ryouga was committed to the lunge, and felt a moment of panic as he realized he'd left himself open to letting Ranma use his secret technique. Outwardly, he kept his speed and course. Inwardly, he braced himself. Like slow motion, Ranma deftly avoided the hasty Bakusai Tenketsu lunge, turned around, and...  
  
"Run!"  
  
"Excuse me?" Ryouga couldn't help but stare as Ranma ran away. Fast.  
  
"That..." Shampoo stammered.  
  
"Was the..." Akane mouthed.  
  
"Saotome Secret Technique?" Ryouga completed. Slowly, shock passed. Replacing it was rage. "Running away... always! ALWAYS RUNNING AWAY! I won't have it! Get back here you COWARD!"  
  
"Hmm." Genma-panda held up a contemplative sign. "A wise move. The Saotome Secret Technique is based in..."  
  
He flipped the sign over. "The concepts of 'motion,' 'contemplation,' and 'opposition.'"  
  
"So basically you run away to buy time!" Akane yelled.  
  
"Exactly!" Genma-panda sweat-dropped.   
  
"Ayia! What stupid technique!" Shampoo bopped the panda upside the head.  
  
"It's harder than you think." A sign wavered, before joining its owner on the ground.  
  
"We'd best follow them." Cologne looked at the two girls, and hopped off into the forest. It wasn't hard to find Ryouga - he was talking very loudly, and was still in 'battle mode' so he hadn't gotten all that lost in the short span of time between running off in search of Ranma and now. It was deeper into the woods that they saw him, standing, his battle aura having grown with anger; bits of black interspersed with the red and faint tints of green.  
  
"Show yourself, you coward!" Ryouga roared, and looked around. "Fool! Do you really think running and hiding in the woods would save you?"  
  
"Ryouga!"  
  
The boy in question faced the sound, and saw Ranma bouncing from one tree branch to another, obviously gaining momentum. A millisecond later, a girl, a panda, an ancient Amazon and her great granddaughter came to the same conclusion. Ryouga, however, just smiled and braced himself to take the blow. The recoil would make it a little stronger, true, but not nearly enough to break though and cause any damage. More importantly, when Ranma found out his little idea was pointless and futile, he'd be crushed. Emotionally anyway... the physical crushing would come later.  
  
"HA! That tickles!" Ryouga winced a bit at the blow. It felt... odd, but he ignored it and planted a good haymaker across the side of Ranma's face. Ranma took it in full, and crashed through one smaller tree, splintering the trunk in his passing, before hitting another larger, sturdier, one and stopping. Ryouga felt a spark of satisfaction dull as his stomach protested. Holding his abdomen, Ryouga looked up at Ranma, who was ...smirking?  
  
"So it tickles, eh?"  
  
"A lucky blow. I'll make you regret it!" Ryouga lunged again, and watched. Ranma took a step back, brought up one hand to brush aside the Bakusai Tenketsu attack, and brought one hand back to strike. It was a fairly simple position and stance, but Ryouga wasn't interested in the rest of his opponent's body. He concentrated on the striking hand. True to form, he felt more than saw the tingle of Ki enter it, and saw it shoot out. Not once, but a hundred times, and then a hundred more. His body reeled from the hits, but Ryouga counted every blow, all 268 of them.  
  
"Interesting." Ryouga wiped some stray sweat from under his jaw, still smiling. Idly, he figured he probably smiled more when fighting than when not. The thought came and went. Ryouga had a fight to deal with first. The musing would come later. "At least you're making this worthwhile, Ranma."  
  
Watching the fight, Akane gasped. "Of course! It looks like a single blow, but Ranma's actually hitting him hundreds of times in the same place!"  
  
"No wonder lost boy actually feel hurt!" Shampoo clutched the kettle tightly. She had felt some need to intervene in the beginning, before it got serious. Now... now it was something different entirely. No one could stop it, now.  
  
"Son-in-law's speed training certainly seems to be paying off now." Cologne seemed impassive. "But the longer the fight drags on, the more likely he is to lose."  
  
Akane was about to speak when Shampoo held up her hand. "Just watch, violent girl."  
  
"Yesss. At least you're finally doing some damage now. But is it enough? And how many more of those do you have in you before you tire?" Ryouga raised both hands in a neutral stance. "Come on!"  
  
'Geez!' Ranma thought, mind reeling... searching for a solution to his present state of affairs. 'This guy's a monster! What's his weakness?'  
  
"Prepare yourself, Ranma!" Ryouga attacked, this time with fists, feet and fury. Ranma felt blood as a glancing kick nicked his upper lip, and spun to capitalize on Ryouga's change in tactics. The lost boy, however, was far quicker than Ranma had expected. He was far faster, in fact, than experience had ever shown him to be before. Before Ranma knew it, Ryouga had him by the throat. As one leg flew through the air, over and into the ground, cementing Ryouga's position, he lifted Ranma effortlessly off the ground. Ranma's legs kicked, Amaguriken style, scoring ten dozen hits across his opponent's chest, but Ryouga's grip was like a vice, and he laughed off the pain of the blows.  
  
"Did you listen to me?" Ryouga's left hand curled into a fist, save for one finger. Like an executioner's axe, for Ranma, it signaled only one thing. "Are you prepared? ...For death?"  
  
"N... No!" Ranma struggled, hands trying vainly to pry the fingers from his throat. Ryouga's index finger was slowly coming closer.   
  
"It's all over, Ranma. You die ...NOW!" Ryouga's finger lunged.  
  
"RANMA!!" Akane screamed.  
  
"AKANE!!" Ranma's voice joined hers. Hands lashing out in a desperate final defense to block the blow, he closed his eyes and wondered if it would hurt, or if the gods would be merciful enough to kill him swiftly and painlessly. Would he feel his body coming apart? Exploding like all those rocks Ryouga had destroyed earlier?  
  
Ranma blinked, as Ryouga's finger tapped his temple, just enough to hurt, but not enough to smash through bone and kill, as it could have had all his strength been behind it. Shivering, Ranma hit the ground clumsily, his fingers loosing their grip on Ryouga's right hand. The reality that he was still alive slowly came home, and he quickly checked to make sure. With a sigh of relief, he realized he hadn't wet himself... but the relief of being alive (and unsoiled) quickly turned into the humiliation and anger of the same as he looked up and saw Ryouga... laughing.  
  
"You... you think this is funny?" Ranma hissed.  
  
"The Bakusai Tenketsu doesn't work on living creatures. Not... in its present form, anyway." Ryouga's eyes narrowed. "Now..."  
  
"Damn you!" Ranma got back up, gritting his teeth. "I'll make you pay!"  
  
"Eh?" Ryouga's eyes closed, instinctively, as well over two hundred blows rained down, not on his chest or torso, but on his face. Step by step, he backed off, tiny droplets of red falling to the cold ground in a small trail. Ryouga looked through dirty, bloodied vision at the angry red and blue aura, not the normal subdued colors, dancing around Ranma's body. Lowering his hand, he then saw exactly what all that wetness on his cheek and upper eye was.   
  
Blood.  
  
Ranma had drawn blood.  
  
Ranma had attacked his... face.  
  
"Fine. I see. No mercy," Ryouga snarled. "An eye for an eye, Ranma."  
  
"Shut up, P-chan," Ranma's voice was low, menacing.   
  
"I wasn't totally serious before, but... now..." Ryouga lips curled into a savage grin. "You're a dead man, Saotome."  
  
It quickly became obvious to those watching that it had gone far beyond even the duel it was before. Both boys were now exchanging blows furiously. Counter met counter, block met hold, met strike, met parry. Ryouga jumped, suddenly, in a flying kick that sent Ranma whirling backwards, arms flailing for balance, into a massive old tree that just barely absorbed the impact, sharing damage with the unfortunate martial artist that crashed into it. Ryouga didn't wait - didn't hesitate, to take advantage of the situation. His legs spun, gaining momentum and inertia, three roundhouses filled the air before the fourth hit just where Ranma had been the millisecond before. In a spray of blasted bark and splinters, the tree was kicked in half by the blow.  
  
Ryouga's leg had cut through the tree like a knife through butter.   
  
Ranma, meanwhile, tucked in and kicked up, catching Ryouga in the lower sternum. It would have broken the ribs and half the internal organs of a normal person, and probably instantly killed him, but Ryouga simply flipped in midair, letting the strength behind the blow carry him up and away, landing a few feet from where he was hit. Snarling, again the two attacked each other, slamming into and through trees, pulverizing stray blocks, only the occasional roars of "Bakusai Tenketsu!!" and "Kachu Tenshi Amaguriken!" bearing witness to the humanity of the two fighters.   
  
"Akane! No go near them!" Shampoo held Akane firm. There was a desperate, panicked look in the girl's eyes, but both Amazons suspected Akane's intervention, now, would only make things worse, like throwing gas on an already raging fire. Amid the ruined forest, Ryouga stumbled, slightly, as his left kidney took another hundred or so precise blows. It was painful, and a big risk, but Ranma was moving in for another set of attacks. The smaller boy was running on adrenalin only, but Ryouga knew he had more than enough to last another few minutes. If he did, he'd burn out his body and Ki reserves, and likely actually cause some serious internal injuries. Concentrating, Ryouga instead let the Ki flow into his arms.   
  
It was time.  
  
"Kachuu..." Both boys said at the same time.  
  
"Tenshi..." They echoed.  
  
"Amaguriken!!!" They collided.  
  
Akane blinked, and it was over.   
  
Ranma gasped, breaking the silence. Ryouga ran his tongue over his teeth to make sure they were there before biting back the bile threatening to pour up from deep inside him. Exchanging Amagurikens with Ranma was risky, considering the lost boy's version was far less refined than his opponent's. Still, the gamble had paid off. Ranma was choking and spitting blood, but he was still alive, if barely. His shoulder was hanging oddly - Ryouga thought he'd knocked it out of the socket in their last exchange, and was darkly proud to see his expectations confirmed.   
  
Hand trembling slightly, he reached for his belt, knowing that it would mean both breaking his vow never to use it again, and that it would be drawn with intent to kill. Looking down, Ryouga saw that it was ripped, but shrugged, and infused a tiny bit of Ki into the material. It hardened to the strength of diamond - a sword stronger than even Kuno could imagine. Unbreakable... unstoppable. Blood dripped down his face, clouding his eyes. Unsteadily, Ryouga let the blade come between them in silent challenge. Ranma was wounded. Beaten. This was the end... of it all.  
  
"Ranma."  
  
Ryouga's right ear, not swollen like the left and so far undamaged, picked up the faint voice.  
  
"Ranma!"  
  
"Shut up." He winced at hearing it, but his voice was soft.  
  
"Ranma!!"  
  
"Shut up!" Ryouga whirled on the direction of the voice. "I'm tired of RANMA! I'm SICK of it! SICK do you hear me?"  
  
Ryouga felt the flying tackle hit him in the gut the moment he turned away from his target. It didn't hurt, and it refocused him on the matter at hand. The Tormentor! The Bread Thief! The Arrogant Bastard! The Curser and Liar! The Destroyer of Lives! The CAUSE of it all! ... Ranma.   
  
'Kill him!'  
  
Ranma must die.   
  
"Ranma must..." Ryouga adjusted the self-made blade in his hands, and cupped them together to drive what remained of his belt-sword into the pig-tailed nemesis' back. "DIE!!!"  
  
The sky opened up, just then, and Ryouga saw the land pass Ranma's feet. They were in the air.   
  
"RANMA!!"  
  
'No matter.' Ryouga assured himself. 'A little fall never hurt. First things first: Ranma. Die.'  
  
"NOOO!!!"  
  
Then the water engulfed them. The voice was gone, thankfully: that screeching, pleading voice... crying for HIM of all people. Unfortunately, while it was now blissfully silent, it was also wet. HE was wet. Opening his eyes, Ryouga confirmed it. On the other hand, from where he was, he had an excellent view of Ranma-chan slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake. A bag of popcorn, a cold cup of cola, and it would have been perfect. Like the ending to that movie he had walked in on once...  
  
After all: Ranma must die.   
  
Right?  
  
Ranma the Tormentor. Who ruined what little respect he had garnered in school over the course of years. Destroyed in the proverbial blink of an eye. The same Ranma that mocked and taunted and goaded and badgered and humiliated him on a DAILY BASIS! Ranma the Tormentor MUST DIE!  
  
Right?  
  
A child's voice: "Come on, Ryouga! School is this way! Follow me, or you'll get lost, lost boy! Lost boy!"  
  
Ranma the Bread Thief! Who single handedly denied him food for over a week. Who single handedly forced him to BEG and SCRAPE for food outside in the STREETS. Ranma who made a point to intercept and take ONLY what Ryouga himself had needed... so desperately... Ranma, who no doubt never knew the feel of real, burning, gnawing hunger. Ranma who simply took what he wanted, from anyone, so long as he could get away with it. Ranma the Bread thief MUST DIE!  
  
Right?  
  
He stood, with the bread in his mouth. "Who are you?"  
  
Ranma the Arrogant! Ranma the Conceited! Ranma the Center of the Universe! Ranma with the world handed to him on a silver platter! Ranma who had everything Ryouga ever dreamed of, and spat at it! Ranma the Narcissist MUST DIE!  
  
...Right?  
  
"I'm a martial artist! My pop's trainin' me to be the best!"  
  
And worst of them all. Ranma the Curser and the Liar. Who kicks random people into cursed pools, and doesn't even realize it - the same Ranma who, through action or inaction, curses everyone around him! Ranma the LIAR, who twists and distorts his word and his honor at a whim! Ranma the Curser... Ranma the Liar... no matter how you phrase it, RANMA MUST DIE!  
  
"The warrior's code..."  
  
And... and Ranma, the womanizer, who... who takes advantage of Akane... and... No.  
  
No.  
  
"Akane..." Ryouga's pig form shook with the memory. "Akane cares for him. Maybe even loves him. It was her voice: her voice, calling for him. Not me. Never... me..."  
  
Diving, Ryouga quickly caught up with Ranma's retreating form. Snagging his sleeve in a set of jaws few piglets could match; Ryouga-buta began to do what he could. To his credit, he had managed to stop the sinking, but lacked the simple physical ability to pull him/her from the cold water. Worse, he was rapidly running out of air. In passing, he considered that it was better this way. All the toughness and training in the world wouldn't keep him from drowning here, by the body of his rival, at the bottom of some nameless, forgotten lake in the middle of nowhere. It was... a Hibiki's death.  
  
'No!'  
  
He denied it.  
  
'No, I won't die! Not until I've defeated him! That's all I have now! That's all I am!! If nothing else, I must beat him!'  
  
He raged against it, against this fate, and with his last few ounces of strength, saved his nemesis... and himself. They... Akane, Shampoo, and Cologne, found the two of them washed up on the shore a minute later. Shampoo had changed him back. Cologne had revived Ranma herself, without the need for CPR, thankfully. And... of course, Akane had found out about the curse. That last memory was the worst. The most damning and burning of them all... it haunted him. Mocked him. Taunted him. He could walk a thousand miles, and never escape from the look of anger and disgust on her face.   
  
But it had cleansed him.  
  
Burned away the softness in his soul and replaced it with an iron discipline. Akane did not care for him. She cared for Ranma. Cologne did not care about him - she wanted Ranma. Shampoo... only she may have cared, and even then, her heart was Ranma's. She had said so herself. Soun and Nabiki had used him as a tool. Kasumi he didn't even know. And suddenly, Ryouga found that he didn't care anymore about any of that anymore. So it was that, in that pool deep in the mountains, he had once again been reborn, and like before at Jyusenkyou, his purpose had been honed to a razor edge. No more uncertainty. No more fear. No more doubt.   
  
Only revenge.  
  
Yes... suffice to say, a lot happened that day.  
  
***  
  
The inescapable Present.  
  
"I try not to think too much about that day," Ryouga's voice was low. The natural response to that memory was more reassurance to himself than for anyone else to hear. Slowly, he lowered his map and looked over it. "This is Nerima, right?"  
  
Ranma looked about to say something. Instead, he stood straight, and nodded once to the affirmative. Ryouga's eyes were still narrow.   
  
Silence reigned.  
  
After all. What else was there to say?  
  
Eyes closed, the lost boy casually folded the map in half, and twice again, before slipping it under his belt, to his side, just out of sight. Ranma tensed instantly, and the air seemed to thicken with anticipation. A millimeter and a second later, Ryouga's mouth curved into a shallow smile. Yes... It was definitely good to be back.  
  
  
  
Author's Notes.  
  
The idea for this fic came when I read over the BT fight in the manga, and realized that it was a more important moment than I had previously thought. That, and it occurred to me all the times Ryouga kept thinking to himself, and starting to come to terms with things (mainly Akane and Ranma) he always claimed to need some time to sort through his thoughts. Unfortunately, for him anyway, that was always two seconds before Akane or Ranma walked up behind him and ruined the moment. So, here I gave him just that - the time and opportunity to think about his situation and what he wanted to do in life, and a somewhat sympathetic ear.   
  
Why Shampoo?   
  
Why not? She was conspicuously absent in the manga of this story (and the anime), so you could consider bringing her along the critical moment. They have enough in common - more, in fact, than most characters. Both suffer a de-humanizing curse, chase after people who don't really want them... both are fighters, and both believe in honor. In those similarities, however, there are differences: Shampoo takes her curse in stride, while Ryouga loathes his. Shampoo is open with her feelings; Ryouga is guarded. Ryouga's honor is a personal code, and Shampoo's is an extension of her village's.  
  
The Fight.  
  
Ryouga has always been stronger and possessed of more stamina than Ranma. The pig-tailed boy has always had a bit more skill and speed. In the anime, Ryouga never learnt the Amaguriken because of his pig curse - not because he was too slow. Shampoo sticking around, I figured, would be enough to pique his pride and force him to learn it. Similarly, I also made the BT training itself a little... harsher than in the manga or anime, simply because I felt it fit the mood. The Fight itself, between Ranma and Ryouga, proceeded accordingly.  
  
Ryouga himself. He's more mature, more experienced, and probably more detached and deadly than the normal Ryouga. I used the manga Ryouga here, mainly, because he's more formidable than his anime counterpart, and I wanted to go with that. The Directional Curse I figured had to be an actual curse, and not anything biological, in which case there would have to be two families of directionless people walking around... and that just didn't fit, IMHO. Agewise, I oppose the 'Simpsons' years of the normal Ranmaverse (ie: two years pass, and everyone's the same age.)... so Ryouga, Ranma, Akane, etc... are all 17, with Ryouga being a few months older than the other two. Mousse I always picture as a little older, and may be just turning 18. Kuno and Nibiki would be the same, and Kasumi would be 20. Tofu would be older still, probably 30, and Cologne and Happosai would be 301. 


	4. Learning Curve part 4

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part IV (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
Tendo Soun yawned, blinking at the early morning sun. He loved mornings - they were so crisp, calm and free... a new day. A clean slate. Moments like this always gave him the opportunity to escape from the insanity that, fairly frequently, seemed to encroach on his home and hearth. Extra fiancées showed up every now and then, crazy female martial artists many of them, but they came and went.   
  
The holes in the roof were patched up, the floors rebuilt, and as always, a new day began. Luckily, he mused, things had actually been somewhat calm for the last few weeks. Akane and Ranma had steadily been getting along better, ever since that trip they took with Genma to train in the mountains, and aside from the occasional escapades revolving around certain busty Amazons and the reappearance of the hated Master, the destruction and distractions had been minimal.  
  
Stretching, Soun winced slightly at the sound of sirens disturbing his serene scene. Curious, he walked up to the gate and looked to the left down the road, were some men in white uniforms were cordoning off the area. This came as little surprise, really: it looked like a bomb ...no, numerous bombs had gone off: there were massive holes in the street and sidewalk, as if some giant hand had simply scooped out chunks of the ground. Streetlights were bent at odd angles, a vending machine had been torn in half, somehow, and was lying on its side in two cleanly cut pieces, a few stray yen and some broken open drinks lying around it were like blood from a wound.   
  
A telephone pole, made of concrete, was broken into splinters, and stray wires were hanging limply from its still standing fellows. Additionally, more than a few walls had deep slashes in them, and while one car had been just turned over on its side, another looked like it had its front removed. The engine... half of the engine had finished leaking fluid, and was now just laying there. Soun could see that it had been bisected smoothly, and saw the missing half just to the side, still in the front part of the car that had been cut off.  
  
"Murgh."  
  
"Hmm?" Soun picked up sound from a nearby bush, and parting the obscuring foliage, saw a familiar pigtail sticking out.   
  
"Ranma? Son?" Soun poked the back of the boy's head, before sighing and simply pulling him out by his hair.  
  
"Ow ow ow ow OW!" Ranma failed weakly, waking up. Letting go, Soun shook his head as his son in law fell forward and back into blissful sleep.  
  
"Sorry 'bout the mess, Tendo-san."  
  
Soun turned around, and saw just whom he suspected he'd see. Ryouga it was. His hair seemed a little ruffled, and there was a hint of a bruise on his left jaw, and more than a little sleeplessness in his eyes, but it was minor. Otherwise he was normal, right down to that (he'd heard, but never confirmed) ridiculously heavy backpack and umbrella.   
  
Crossing his arms, Soun debated whether to reprimand the boy or not. On one hand he seemed to have been the cause of more than a little damage done on Ranma, not to mention the local area, but on the other hand, Soun knew all too well that Ranma's wounds would heal, and his pride would force him to improve in the Art. It was just as it had been between Genma and himself, all those years ago. In the end, it was all for the best.   
  
"You know, Ryouga, it looks like you and Ranma caused a lot of damage out there last night."  
  
"Yeah." Ryouga nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Well, we tried to keep it out of the yard, Tendo-san. You know... keep the damage here to a minimum."  
  
"Were you two up all night fighting?"  
  
"I think Ranma fell asleep a few hours ago. I kinda did the same. Figured we could," Ryouga said and smiled. "Continue it another time. Maybe show him some more tricks I picked up in my travels."  
  
"Well then." Soun mused. New techniques? Soun held no illusions as to his status in the unspoken martial arts hierarchy in Nerima. Genma had surpassed him long ago, and he'd largely relegated his skills to teaching, and more recently, trying to beat on the perverted Master. The thought of which, plus his natural curiosity, drove the Tendo patriarch to a decision. "How about tea, then? It's cold out, and it has been quite a while since you dropped by."  
  
"I would be most grateful, Tendo-san." Ryouga bowed gratefully, walked over to the bush, and casually pulled Ranma out and hefted him over his shoulder. "Lead the way."  
  
***  
  
"Thank you very much, Kasumi." Ryouga took the tea, and gave Kasumi a brief bow. No one else was up, just yet, and Ranma was on a couch in the living room, still unconscious. It was generally agreed by those awake that he'd sleep better there than with his father. A man could cut down a forest and no one would hear it over Genma's snoring. Kasumi smiled, as she always did, and sat down next to her father. Idly, while drinking, Ryouga wished he could have had an older sister like Kasumi. Of course, being related to him, she'd only end up getting lost... and he doubted she'd be so content all the time with a curse like that over her head. No, it was best not to even think about subjecting something like that on sweet, innocent, Kasumi.  
  
"So, Ryouga," Soun began, cutting right to the meat of things. "Still have the curse?"  
  
Ryouga frowned. "No cure yet I'm afraid."   
  
Soun had found out his secret soon after Ranma had, during the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition, when without thinking, Ryouga had jumped into the bathtub as P-chan, and came out as Ryouga. While Soun was in it. The older man had confronted Ryouga about it soon after, and after a solemn vow from the younger man that it was mainly innocent, and not perverted, decided to let it pass.   
  
Given the attack by Kodachi in the night, and her training under him for the match, Soun had decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. They'd even talked about it occasionally, and Ryouga suspected that Mr. Tendo actually liked talking to him about things. The man had a similar past; that of a wanderer, but he wandered by choice, and not by default.   
  
In retrospect, Ryouga had no doubt why Mr. Tendo had allowed him to stay as P-chan. It made Ranma jealous, and Soun knew that even as it did that, it would push Ryouga himself farther and farther away from becoming a potential romantic interest for Akane. Ryouga had to admit: Tendo-san was smarter and craftier than he let on, especially when it came to things revolving around his 'Plans.'   
  
Ryouga had later out and told Kasumi soon after on Soun's urging, and both had agreed to keep his secret, trusting him not to do anything ... naughty. He realized now, after so long on the road, that his ability to confide in them had drawn him to the Tendo home as much as his feelings for Akane had, like the two were a kindly (but eccentric) extension of his wayward family. Even though Soun had used him to further his plans, and Kasumi was mostly a mystery, the lost boy did feel far more relaxed around them than with most people.   
  
"I tried to find Jyusenkyo, and I aimed for the more mountainous areas of China, hoping to hit either the Joketsuzoku, where I could get a guide, or the Baiyankara Range itself." Ryouga shook his head in defeat. "But I don't even know if I hit the Quinghai Province, to tell the truth. Hmm... this is good tea, by the way. It's been a while since I've had good tea, you know."  
  
"You've been gone a long time, Ryouga-kun," Kasumi spoke up. "Did you go any place new?"  
  
"Yep. I got to some new spots in Russia this time around, in the south, and spent some time in the Near East and the Subcontinent. I doubt I'll end up there again, but you never know... I just got back three days ago, and made a bee line here. I guess I actually got a little lucky and made it when I did." Ryouga sipped the tea. "Anything new going on around here, Tendo-san? Kasumi?"  
  
"The Master returned." Soun's voice was borderline breaking-down-into-tears.  
  
"Master?"  
  
"Grandfather Happosai." Kasumi held her hand out about two feet over the table. "About this high, several hundred years old... wrinkly."  
  
"Like a male version of Cologne?" Ryouga couldn't help but start to laugh when his two hosts nodded. "Seriously? That's hilarious!"  
  
"I wish that was it!" Soun held back the temptation to wail. "He's the most evil, foul, perverted demon on the planet! He destroys things, steals underwear, and eats us out of house and home!"  
  
"I ...see." Ryouga still couldn't quite picture this 'Happosai,' and settled for nodding as if he understood. It was a skill he'd come to master. "Anything else?"  
  
"Well, there was that Martial Arts Takeout Race..."  
  
"Oh, and that play Akane and Ranma were in," Kasumi added, "Romeo and Juliet! It was very... entertaining. And they looked so cute in their little costumes!"  
  
"Romeo and Juliet?" Ryouga frowned, just a little. "Was Ranma Romeo or Juliet?"  
  
"Both," Soun said and shrugged. "There was this boy... Ukyou, if I recall, who started coming by and attacking Ranma. He doesn't drop in here much, though."  
  
"Then there were those Love Pills at the beach. Remember that, Father?"  
  
"How could I forget, Kasumi?" Soun's voice was the same, but Ryouga detected a small smile on the older man's face.   
  
"It must've been... amusing," Ryouga ventured.  
  
"Oh my!" Kasumi suddenly remembered. "Ryouga-kun, a few days ago, in the news... We heard that your dog, Shirokuro, I think, had puppies. She was looking for you, but I suppose you were still out."  
  
"Yeah. In Hawaii." Ryouga bit his lip. Shirokuro had puppies? And she'd been looking for him? Silently, he cursed. If he went to look, it'd almost certainly be weeks before he found home. Hell, he didn't even know exactly where home was, not that exact locations in general had any real meaning to a Hibiki. "I'll... have to try and find a way home later. I don't want to risk getting lost again now that I found Nerima."  
  
Soun nodded, understanding. "So... what are these new techniques you've picked up?"  
  
"Well." Ryouga thought for a second about where to begin. "On the road I got a lot of use out of my Bakusai Tenketsu. That's the Joketsuzoku technique Cologne taught me. It's designed for use in mining, destroying rocks and the like... and more importantly, the training for it boosted my durability. I used it to tunnel through some of the more treacherous mountainous areas, and for general demolition. It's pretty easy once you get used to it, and I'm comfortable enough with it that I can control the reaction pretty precisely. I'm experimenting with a Special for of it... I can already delay the reaction, and have it explode on contact with things. Ultimately, I want to be able to make the reaction Ki specific."  
  
"Interesting." Soun finished his tea. Kasumi poured him another, but both kept listening intently.  
  
"On the other hand," Ryouga continued, "Instead of finesse, I've also been working to make the Bakusai Tenketsu itself more powerful. It only took a few weeks to learn to control the strength of the blast, and direct it from the Blasting Point itself. The trick is to infuse tightly controlled and confined Ki into the target. I'm working on perfecting the Bakusai Tenketsu to the point where I can send a stream of Ki into the ground, and use it to create Blasting Points in areas far away from myself. A long range attack like that would be a real asset, because it would force an opponent into close quarters combat, where I have the advantage."  
  
Ryouga left out the fact that he had also attempted to get the Bakusai Tenketsu to work on living matter, with little success. Cologne had said that it wouldn't work on a person, or animal, or even a plant... but had she been telling the truth? With his knowledge of Shampoo's Take-out Box Blowout technique he had determined that it used the water in the food to produce an effect similar to a tiny breaking point. More than a few times, Ryouga had wondered just how precise and refined a technique it would take to really activate the breaking point of water. And what that effect would have on living tissue...  
  
"A substitute for a Ki attack," Soun said in approval. "Saotome told me you also picked up the Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken technique."  
  
"Um... sort of. I have *a* Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken attack I can do, but I haven't been able to do much with it. The attack itself is mainly used to distract or overwhelm an opponent to maneuver for a single blow. I'm still not as fast as Ranma, and I haven't been able to narrow down the strikes themselves like Ranma has. His Amaguriken and mine are really pretty different. To the point where they could be considered different attacks entirely."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Ah, but," Ryouga said and slowly leaned forward, conspiratorially. "I'll tell you where I have made my greatest progress, though. You know the Iron Cloth technique?"  
  
"Of course." Soun answered.  
  
"I've taken it a step forward, mixing it with elements of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, and the Hibiki School of Survival my father started me on. At first, I just needed a way to make my clothes stronger... and last longer on the road. Mimicking and adapting what I knew from before, and had done with my bandannas and belt, I altered my clothes, and my spares in my backpack. I call it 'Tekimen Kongou Gishu.'"  
  
"Instant Diamond Hand?" Kasumi piqued up at this.  
  
"Yep. Even saved my life once, while passing through Afghanistan. ...Or I think it was Afghanistan. It might have been Turkmenistan. Kasumi, could you get a knife, please?"  
  
"Um... of course, Ryouga-kun." Kasumi got up and headed for the kitchen. A moment later, she came back and put a sharp cutting knife on the table, though a little hesitantly.   
  
Ryouga thanked her, and picked up the knife. "Now watch."  
  
With a swift movement, he held up his arm, and quickly slashed at the sleeve, just below the wrist. Kasumi jumped a little, half expecting a fountain of blood, and then she saw her father, leaning forward, eyes narrowed - curious, but nothing more. Without hesitating, he reached out and tugged at Ryouga's sleeve, and felt the material. Leaning back, he brought his hand up to his chin.  
  
"Incredible."  
  
"You have to 'teach' the material, and it didn't work the first couple times because I tried to do it all at once," Ryouga explained, putting the knife down. "But using a steady infusion of Ki, over time, achieved the desired results. It'll stiffen automatically whenever something tries to pierce it. It'll stop knives, arrows, needles... even bullets and swords. It'd even stop my old Iron Cloth belt sword."  
  
"Old?" Soun asked.  
  
"After I finished with this, about halfway through my little trip around Asia, and had the technique down pact, I decided to see what else I could do with it. The simplest result was to pre-treat my belt and bandannas, so they'd be better than before. My bandannas... I didn't sharpen as much as I could have; in fact I barely changed them except to make them a little lighter, and thus more accurate, when thrown. I'm still toying with some ideas for them. My belt, however." Ryouga reached down, and untied his belt. Holding up his hand, and one end of the belt, it smiled. Instantly, it straightened out into the air, forming a blade.   
  
"I call it the Tekimen Kongou Toushin, to separate it from the pure Iron Cloth technique I used to use." Ryouga was careful with the belt-sword, and kept it in the air and away from anyone. "Or Instant Diamond Blade. This was what cut through that car outside. As far as I know, it'll go through anything... even clothes treated by my Tekimen Kongou Gishu."  
  
"That's a very dangerous weapon, Ryouga-kun. Could you please put it away?" Kasumi shifted a bit, and visibly relaxed when Ryouga nodded, and put it away, reverting it back into the belt he always wore.   
  
"I only used it to scare Ranma a bit last night. I wasn't even aiming to hit him with it." Ryouga shrugged.  
  
"You mentioned that this was the simplest result of your experimentation with the technique."  
  
"Yes. The other one was a lot more difficult to get down. I merged what I had learnt from developing the Tekimen Kongou Gishu, and the Bakusai Tenketsu. It's... well; you could say it's my trump card. My most powerful technique. I didn't show it to Ranma last night because it would have ended our little fight right then and there."  
  
"I'd love to see it sometime," Soun said, and then added, "Preferably when used on the hated Master."  
  
Ryouga just nodded, and leaned back, his hands behind his head. His smile slowly disappeared, though he didn't know it, as the topic faded away. His mind, that was, just a few second earlier, content to focus on his martial arts and his training, and even his journey, had wandered back into darker and more depressing territory. He was having doubts as to whether he should be around when Akane woke up. He hadn't seen her since that disaster after the Bakusai Tenketsu training, around eight months ago, and the last time he'd seen her she was... irate. That seemed like a nice, intermediate word, though perhaps 'furious' was a more exact description.   
  
How could he blame her? She had every right to hate him. For a little over a month he'd posed as he pet, LET her take him to bed with her twice without telling her the truth, and even almost gone so far as to look forward to getting to the Dojo not so much for the opportunity to beat the hell out of his rival, but just to be P-chan. Cringing, he repeated the hated nickname over and over in his mind, examining and cataloguing the deep, burning disgust he felt in ever syllable, and in every stroke of its kanji. Truly, he was fortunate he had gotten out of the situation when he did. It was torture to be so close to love and yet, at the same time, so very, very far. That month had, in retrospect, been one of the most painful in a life of painful memories and experiences. To degrade himself; to forsake his precious humanity, the only thing he had left in life to hold onto, just to feel affection given to an animal, and worse: to become addicted to it?  
  
Indeed, perhaps it was for the best.  
  
Over the last half year, he'd had more than enough time to roll the situation around in his mind. He still remembered when he asked himself the critical question... what if anyone else had picked him up? What if any other girl had shown affection, and in so doing, trapped him forever? Robbed him of his humanity for the pathetic security of a pet? What if Kodachi had picked him up? Ryouga felt a shiver down his spine at the thought of it. He wanted happiness, yes... oh gods how he wanted some small measure of happiness, but at any price? At the price of his humanity? ...His soul?  
  
"Never," he growled, softly. Checking the time, he again thought over how to approach, or whether to approach at all, Akane. Ranma, at least, wasn't an issue. Ryouga had been hoping to get in a good fight when he arrived, and Ranma had practically walked into him. It quickly became obvious that his nemesis hadn't been working very hard the intervening months, and resolved to find out more about what his hated foe had been up to later. However, looking back, Ranma had responded very well when Ryouga used bladed weapons, no doubt a result of Ukyou's attacks, and remained untouched by either bandanna or belt-sword. Cursing, Ryouga realized his mind had again wandered off track.   
  
Akane. Akane. What about Akane? What to say? He'd already apologized, and gotten belted across the face for it, though luckily he hardly physically felt it. Slowly, indecision and nervousness started to creep into his thoughts, and Ryouga had to grit his teeth to banish them. Though he didn't love her, he could see that now, he had been, before, infatuated with her, and more to the point, still respected her. He respected her compassion. He respected her martial arts, meager though they were compared to Ukyou's or Shampoo's, and he respected her ability to put up with Ranma, in close quarters, for so long. Ryouga suspected he'd have likely smothered Ranma in his sleep before spending two full weeks around the pig-tailed boy. Strangely, he still realized he knew relatively little about Akane, despite the time he had spent near her as P-chan. What was her favorite color? Her favorite food? Why didn't she try and grow her hair long, again, after it got cut?  
  
"Morning Dad. ...Kasumi. ...Ryouga."  
  
"Hmm?" Ryouga opened his eyes, putting aside the annoying thoughts for later (over) examination. "Oh. Nabiki. 'Morning."  
  
The middle Tendo daughter yawned and sat down at the table next to him, as if just now realizing he was actually here. "Wait... Ryouga? Didn't expect to see you around. What're you doing here? It's been... a while since you came by."  
  
"A little less than a year," Ryouga admitted. He'd been gone for about three months before the Training with Cologne, and around eight after. Narrowing his eyes a bit, he checked her facial expressions and body posture, and confirmed that, indeed, she was still a bit groggy from waking up. That was good - it meant a minimum of hassle and manipulations from the middle Tendo daughter. Unlike Kasumi, Nabiki made him uncomfortable. Frankly, he didn't trust her. He silently hoped she wouldn't find out about the incident he'd had with Ranma earlier. It would only make things worse, and blow everything out of...  
  
Nabiki smiled, though her eyes were still half closed. "You're hiding something, Ryouga-kun."  
  
"What? Huh? Me... nah!" Ryouga shook his head more than a little vigorously.  
  
"Something happened. Is it something I'd be interested in knowing about?"  
  
"Look, I... there... no. Nothing at all happened last night. Nothing. Absolutely nothing."  
  
"Oh!" Her eyes sparkled, and he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that she was fully awake. "So it is something I'd be interested in!"  
  
"Hey, now..."  
  
"Ranma, right?"  
  
"I... ah..."  
  
"What am I saying? I had to be Ranma. Like you'd show up for any other reason now." Nabiki looked into his eyes, and followed them to the living room. Slumped over the side, just barely visible, was a black pigtail. The middle Tendo nodded, and faced the lost boy. "Alright. Did you have an audience?"  
  
"A what?"  
  
"Did anyone see you fight him? Judging by the fact that he's unconscious, and you look awfully spry, I'm guessing you were holding back."  
  
"Damn it." Ryouga silently cursed, and concentrated on ignoring her. She was setting him up again, just like before, when he'd first found his way to Nerima. He'd bumped into her, and found out (see: paid through the nose) where Ranma was going to school, and gotten a small map, too. She'd questioned him thoroughly, and promptly pointed him in the wrong direction. Whether it was a purposeful misleadment, or her trying reverse-directional psychology, was unknown.   
  
Needless to say, when he'd shown up for the second time, and he and Ranma had had their little duel, it was no coincidence she had placed bets on him winning. That little 'bit' with the vitamins was cute indeed. He'd never actually seen steroids, or how they were used (missing gym class will do that to you), and he'd only vaguely known what they could do. Oh yes - Cute, indeed, that. Making him look like a complete idiot.  
  
"What do you want, Nabiki? Just come out and say it." Ryouga found his voice again, once he'd distanced hers from his thoughts. Nabiki was not an innocent girl. She was an opponent, and had to be engaged as one. All he had to do was remind himself of that every time he looked at her.   
  
"It looks like you've been on the road a long time, Ryouga-kun." Nabiki ran her finger down his jaw line, causing the younger boy to flinch. "You've grown some stubble. You want to know what I want to know?"  
  
He nodded nervously.  
  
"How good you've gotten. Kuno-chan hasn't exactly been a challenge at school, and Mousse hasn't issued a real challenge in months. Ranma's going to train to beat you in the formal match I just know you're going to write up today. I know your type - they're rare, but very... very predictable. There's no honor in beating Ranma right off the bat like that. You want him to get better. You want him to be a challenge, and you want to overcome that challenge in front of everyone that matters, which... at this point... is pretty much yourself, even if you risk losing. If it were me, I'd jump him at school, flatten him in front of everyone and claim victory."  
  
"Yeah?" Ryouga cocked his head a bit, as if losing his attention.  
  
Nabiki continued, regardless. "The question then becomes how good you've become, and how much time you give for Ranma to improve."  
  
"That's none of your business, Nabiki. This is between Ranma and myself. No one else."  
  
"And Akane?" Nabiki smirked at the response she got.  
  
Ryouga shuddered. "Akane has nothing to do with this. Maybe she did once... a long time ago. I'm here for Revenge. Retribution. Not to pick up a girlfriend."  
  
"Pity." She turned away at the sound of footsteps from upstairs. "I guess we'll see soon enough, eh? ...Ryouga-kun?"  
  
Nabiki frowned when she turned back to where he'd been. "Hibiki? Great... that idiot."  
  
He'd bolted. Typical. The lost boy could probably face down a speeding car (from what she'd heard of the Bakusai Tenketsu) without getting hurt, but he ran at the first sight of something he couldn't deal with physically. He'd obviously gotten stronger, but emotionally he was as unsure about himself, and how to deal with the world, as ever, especially in regards to her sister. It was a weakness. One she could see, and one she was sure Ranma would and could exploit in a future rematch. And if that inevitable rematch were to become profitable, for her, then it was a weakness that would have to be dealt with. ...As quickly as possible.  
  
Outside...  
  
Ryouga ran.  
  
A wall was in the way, but it crumbled like rice paper, and he kept going. It wasn't ultimately a physical barrier that stopped him, or one of fatigue, but a matter of self-control. The looming threat of getting hopelessly lost finally kicked in, and broke the barrier his panic had built up. Stop, he thought, and stop he did. If only that thought had come a few seconds earlier.  
  
"Where... the hell... am I now?"  
  
***  
  
"You saw him?"  
  
Nabiki nodded, slipping another piece of deluxe okonomiyaki into her mouth.  
  
Ukyou waited, as if expecting more information. After a couple seconds, she realized none was forthcoming. "Well?!"  
  
Nabiki chewed slowly, deliberately. "This is very tasty, you know that?"  
  
"What is it? Money? How much?"  
  
"Free lunch. Two months."  
  
"TWO MONTHS?!"  
  
"Two months."  
  
"One month." Ukyou countered. "That's plenty."  
  
"Forty five days." Nabiki responded. "Don't worry. I won't exactly be coming in here every day."  
  
Ukyou fumed, but calmed herself, and admitted defeat, at least for the time being. She was already paying Nabiki not to tell Ranma that the same boy who attacked him so often was, in fact, a girl. "Ok. You have my word. Just tell me one thing: How did you know I'd even care?"  
  
"Simple," Nabiki said calmly, and didn't mind letting this information flow freely. It was good for her healthy ego. "I overheard Ranma mention that sometimes you fight like Ryouga. I brought the subject to Shampoo, and she spilled everything. It was too easy."  
  
"Shampoo. I should have known." Ukyou's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Go on."  
  
"He showed up two days ago, at night, and got into a little tussle with Ranma." Nabiki noted Ukyou's pleased smile, and continued. "I talked to him in the morning, while Ranma was... sleeping. He'd gotten a little taller, and started on a little bit of beard, but the yellow and black bandanna was a dead giveaway. He's planning a formal rematch, of course, for whenever he shows up next."  
  
"Nani? You mean he isn't there now?" Ukyou didn't sound happy that the Tendo household had managed to lose him so soon.  
  
"My sister sort of scared him off."  
  
"Is that ...it?"  
  
"There's more." Nabiki thought, briefly, about selling it later as 'breaking news,' but decided Ukyou may well not pay if she felt she had been too gypped this time around. Skirting the fine line between alienating customers and milking them for all they have was something Tendo Nabiki had a good deal of experience in. She'd questioned Ranma, her father, and Kasumi. The latter two had been hesitant to say anything at all, apparently keeping the lost boy's confidence, while the former hadn't had that problem.   
  
"From what I gathered, he still has his curse, even though he went through China at least once. His martial arts have improved considerably, and he's not interested in Akane. Afraid, yes, but interested, no."  
  
"I don't care about that!" Ukyou huffed up a bit. "He's just a good friend."  
  
"Oh. Good." Nabiki let the inference slip in. "By the way, as a friendly bit of advice, I wouldn't bother Ranma for a few days. He's wound a little tight right now..."  
  
***  
  
"Fwah!"  
  
"Faster, boy! Kick! Kick!"  
  
Ranma snarled, and whirled into a spinning roundhouse, clipping his father's practice glove, just below the target. His toes provided his only means of motion, next, as he rose almost two inches high to strike again at the target with the same foot. His father danced back, targets moving erratically left and low, drawing Ranma's attention as he flowed into another set of attacks.   
  
Beads of sweat fell from his bow, as the tempo of attacks increased, blurring at around half Amaguriken-level speeds. Ranma knew this was his father's fastest rate of speed, but knew that the old man could both dodge and attack at these speeds, and his experience and familiarity showed when the training had increased to this point, earlier in the day.   
  
Ranma smiled, as his body and mind synchronized. His aura was a blazing avatar now, fueling the fire that was *him* - he could just see the edges of it as he struck, dodged, and moved to counter. Tiny droplets of water, his sweat he recognized, rolled eerily in midair, as if suspended and caught in the maelstrom of the match. Five Days had passed since his ...encounter with the Lost Boy. Eyes flashing, Ranma's fist struck the glove, and it exploded in a spray of palpated leather and stuffing. Genma rolled back, and broke off the spar. He looked down at the glove, and back at his son.  
  
At his feet, the tiny droplets finally hit the ground.  
  
"Mr. Saotome, Ranma... dinner!" Kasumi slid open the door to the dojo.   
  
"Already?"  
  
"We're done for tonight, boy." Genma licked his lips. "All this work makes a man hungry!"  
  
Ranma just nodded, and followed Kasumi to the table. He ate quickly, concentrating on the food, and keeping it away from his father. Soun and Genma exchanged words, when the latter wasn't trying to steal his son's portion of dinner. Happosai sat contently smoking his pipe, the Tendo sisters chatted, and Ranma ignored them all. He caught occasional glances from Akane, however, and they burned him like hot coals.   
  
Though none of them had talked about it, except Nabiki once, Ranma knew his defeat had to be a hot topic while he wasn't around. He'd been thrashed... manhandled... humiliated... luckily, no one had seen him and most importantly it hadn't been an official duel. It couldn't stress that enough. He had gone to school the first day, and caught the looks of Hiroshi and the rest. They knew, and Ranma knew Nabiki had told them, most likely just to hype up their eventual rematch.   
  
He silently cursed her constant interference, but kept eating.  
  
It was the worst seeing that... pity in Akane's eyes. At least in practice, in battle, he never had to worry about being looked at that way. He'd skipped four days of school, and trained every waking moment. Ryouga was lost, Nabiki had told him 'for free,' and out of the 'goodness of her heart.' She hadn't said anymore on the subject, even though she obviously knew more. He was working towards asking the old Ghoul for help, even though he already knew the price she'd ask of him - even though he knew that price was one he would never pay. Which left him with his old man, who was, luckily, a skilled and effective teacher, if not a great father figure.  
  
And one other, he was hesitant to approach.  
  
But Ryouga already had more than half a year's worth of hard training to his advantage. Time was not something Ranma had to waste. Putting down his bowl, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'll be in the dojo."  
  
Ranma left, quickly, purposefully, and without waiting for an answer.   
  
"He's obsessed," Akane finally said what most of them had been thinking.  
  
Soun arched an eyebrow. "He's taking this very seriously. But this is a matter of honor, for the both of them. A little extra drive never hurt anyone, eh Saotome?"  
  
"Never, Tendo. Speaking of competition, how about a game of Shogi later?"  
  
"Good idea, Saotome!" Soun clasped his hands together.   
  
"But..." Akane tried again. "He's skipping school and... and... aren't either of you worried about this? Dad? Mr. Saotome?"  
  
"Don't worry about Ranma." Genma chuckled jovially. "My son knows what he's doing. Personally, I think its great he's facing a challenge after slacking off for so long, don't you, Tendo?"  
  
"Indeed. Indeed."   
  
Akane's father nodded his head, and the two men went off to set up the shogi table. The youngest Tendo daughter sighed as they left. Out of the two of them, she'd expected Mr. Saotome to at least see things her way. He had been there when Ranma and Ryouga fought deep in the mountains. He had seen them, heard Ryouga... he had to know that the lost boy was dangerous. That this wasn't a normal duel! Obviously not, however. Gradually, the family finished dinner and dispersed. As they did, Akane noticed Nabiki moving with a distinct hurry, throwing on her jacket and heading for the door.  
  
'That's odd.'  
  
***  
  
Midnight in Tokyo.  
  
"Where ARE you headed, Miss Kuonji?"   
  
Mousse adjusted his glasses as he landed, carefully slipping his cell phone back into the voluminous folds of his robe. Far below, on the streets of Nerima, he watched Kuonji Ukyou run. Leaping to another rooftop in his silent pursuit, Mousse ran his fingers along his vast array of hidden weapons in preparation. His purpose for this midnight jaunt was two-fold. Three fold, actually.  
  
He'd heard of Hibiki.  
  
From the worst possible source - Shampoo. Worse than the fact that Shampoo seemed close friends with him, and went so far as to openly look forward to seeing him again, was that she had repeatedly gone out of her way, especially over the last few days, to compare Mousse to this other man. And when it came to jealousy, even Tendo Akane couldn't hold a candle to Mu Tzu of the Jyusenkyo. It was bad enough being places side by side with one rival for Shampoo, Saotome Ranma, who he had repeatedly failed to defeat in combat. At least then, Mousse suspected, Shampoo's feelings towards Ranma were neither very fresh nor very strong. This other one, however, would be a problem, and an obstacle.  
  
And, as everyone who knows Amazons, knows, Obstacles are for Killing.  
  
He leapt again, keeping Ukyou in sight, even as she ducked through the overhang of a large restaurant for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, some of the roof under Mousse's foot, despite his light landing, chipped and fell. Ukyou stopped instantly, and turned around, her practiced ears and eyes searching. Her right hand rested calmly on the handle of her main weapon, some sort of giant spatula, almost on instinct. Mousse flattened himself, and controlled his breathing. He couldn't see her anymore, from where he hid, and he almost hissed in frustration. A sharp knife's polished side alleviated the situation, as he used it to look over the edge of the roof and down into the street.   
  
Ukyou turned and went back to running.  
  
Mousse followed.  
  
"Almost there." Ukyou smiled, but forced herself to slow down a bit as she entered the park. She was in her male school clothes, just in case she ran into trouble, but she still couldn't shake the odd feeling that she was being followed. Brushing aside such a silly notion, she kept walking, looking around the area. She'd overheard a woman with a child talking in her restaurant about a 'wandering martial artist' camped in the park. It had to be him.   
  
  
  
Parting foliage, she got a good look at the campfire, and a large pack and umbrella leaning heavily against a large tree. It was fall, and a sudden cold wind reminded her of that fact just then. Leaves were falling, slowly, to earth, and amid them a single figure, highlighted by the flames, sat. His eyes were closed, but he seemed to be studying the inferno that lay, less than a foot from his hands, none-the-less.   
  
"Hey," she called out, just loud enough to get his attention. "Got room for company, sugar?"  
  
His eyes opened, and dark green orbs seemed to take a second to register who she was. He jumped up, smiling. "Ukyou! What're you doing in Osaka?"  
  
"This is Tokyo, dummy."  
  
"Nerima?" He frowned, and the expression stayed, even when she replied in the negative. "Close, then?"  
  
"Very." She walked up to him, hesitated for a second, and reached out to give him a warm hug. "It's good to see you again."  
  
"Geez! You've gotten stronger, Ukyou!" He laughed, but it was a controlled laugh, the ones he preferred to show. It was only occasionally that he showed genuine emotional laughter, and in those rare occasions, it was indeed wild, uncontrollable, and even a little inspirational. She'd only really gotten him to laugh three times, in the two weeks they'd traveled together. Still, at least, now, his eyes seemed happy. Distantly, Ukyou realized Nabiki had been right - his chin was a bit rough with stubble. He gave her a gentle squeeze back and let her go, and motioned for her to sit down on the soft grass. "How'd you find me?"  
  
"Someone at the restaurant saw you breaking rocks with your finger. Who else does that kind of stuff?"  
  
"Good point. Subtlety has never been a specialty of mine." He jabbed a blackened branch at the fire, causing it to crackle and hiss. "You've gotten all my packages, haven't you?"  
  
She nodded. "All of 'em. You're spoiling Shampoo, giving her all that stuff."  
  
"Her great grandmother doesn't pay her," Ryouga said, simply. Ukyou hadn't known that. Then again, even if it was true, and it must have been for Ryouga to say it, it would be typical of Shampoo to just take it in stride and say nothing. The conversation turned to his travels, and Ukyou listened as he retold what he'd been through and where. At the same time, around the fire, she couldn't help but remember when they'd met.  
  
Months ago...  
  
"Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki." Ukyou sighed, as she cooked. The roar of the surf had died down from its earlier fury; leaving it sounding almost content with the fight it had given her hours ago. The tireless sea had been her opponent, and partner, for years. It had been her trainer, in preparation for her inevitable revenge on those responsible for her ruined life. Ukyou cooked slowly, letting the peace of mind that came from her unique Art seep into her muscles and body, warming her soul from the continual assault of the cold.  
  
She almost didn't hear the muffled footsteps until they were right next to her.  
  
"Hey," A tired voice broke her train of thought. "Got room for company there?"  
  
It was the voice of a boy - obviously, and she checked to see whether she was in guy-guise at the time being. Realizing that she was, she deepened her voice just enough to (usually) be convincing. "Huh?"  
  
"I'm starving. Haven't eaten any real food in days."  
  
"You got any money in there?" She looked at his backpack. It seemed stuffed. There had to be something in there he could trade for, even if he was some kind of drifter.  
  
The boy shifted the strap on his pack, and looked away at the lights of the city at the horizon. He smirked, a little. "No cash. And I don't think you take Traveler's Checks."  
  
"No." She smiled, a bit. "I guess I can let you have some, though."  
  
"Thanks, man." He looked at her, and seemed to examine her features a bit. "I'll pay you back."  
  
"Sure you will," she humored him, and flipped the okonomiyaki onto a plate.  
  
"You have my word." He took the plate, but waited for her to accept what he'd said. When she nodded and waved it off, he folded the okonomiyaki once, and ate it in a single bite.  
  
"It's good!" He licked his lips, not seeming full in the least.  
  
"Really?" She'd never actually sold her food to anyone, so the monetary loss was nothing, really. But this was the first time anyone had actually complimented her cooking. "Want to try another?"  
  
"Sure." He waited as she quickly cooked up another okonomiyaki, and ate that one more slowly, in only three bites.   
  
"What's your name, anyway?" She started on two this time, at the same time.  
  
"Hibiki Ryouga." He watched her cook closely, carefully observing her hand movements.  
  
She blushed a bit, not used to much non-Tsubasa attention. "What?"  
  
He leaned back a bit, and nervously put his right hand behind his head. "Nothing. Your hands are just very efficient. ...Like a martial artist's."  
  
"I am a martial artist," she said proudly, and flipped the food to let the other side cook. "Okonomiyaki Style."  
  
"Really?" He drawled. His left eyebrow rose a bit.  
  
"What? You've never heard of it before?"  
  
"No..." Ryouga trailed off, but noticed her expression. "Heh. Learn something new every day, I suppose."  
  
That seemed to placate her. "I guess you're one, too. What style?"  
  
"No real style. Just whatever I can pick up." He shrugged half-heartedly. "You any good?"  
  
"I'm... ok. Yourself?"  
  
"I guess I'm ok, too. I know some tricks."  
  
"Maybe you could show me them, then. These tricks of yours." She handed him the two finished foodstuffs.   
  
He took the plate, looked down at the steaming okonomiyaki, and back up at her. Slowly, a hint of a smile drew up his lips, "Sure. I could use some good company. And some good food..."  
  
"And I swear... if I never see that damn country again it'll be a lifetime too soon!" Back in the present, Ryouga shook his fist to bring the point home. "Um... Ukyou-san?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Who's your friend over there?"  
  
"Huh?" She looked around. Then, the lost boy pointed over her shoulder and into the branches of a tree. It was dark, but she could just barely make out the outline of something large - too large, hiding in the cover of the foliage. She reached for her megaspatula, but Ryouga shook his head.  
  
"Let me." He reached up, and his fingers just seemed to brush by his bandanna, and he had one in hand. He spun it, quickly, as he stood, and let it fly with a flick of the wrist. The figure moved, like a blur, at the last second, and the bandanna cut into and through the branch it had been perched on. Now partially lit by the fire, and by the far off light of a streetlamp, Ukyou immediately recognized the figure.  
  
"Mousse," she growled.   
  
Ryouga blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Makes sense. Mu Tzu?"  
  
"You must be Hibiki." Mousse stepped forward, long hair moving slowly in the breeze. "A pleasure."  
  
"Same here. I've heard of you." Ryouga smirked. "From Shan Pu."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Nothing good, I assure you." A prominent canine pointed out as Ryouga's smirk deepened. "Still, it's nice to see you in person, finally."  
  
"Is that so?" Mousse kept his cool, and his hands in his sleeves. "I heard you beat Saotome."  
  
Ryouga paused before replying, "I haven't beaten him yet."  
  
"Still. You understand... I simply must see for myself... if you are everything they say you are!" Mousse's eyes narrowed, and he jumped. Ryouga stood, watching. Ukyou, however, moved: reaching out for the Lost Boy's umbrella. It was heavy as hell, but she could lift it, and he'd need it to fight Mousse. She'd seen the Chinese boy fight Ranma, though she'd never crossed him herself, and he wasn't a pushover. High above, clouds passed over the moon, and under the cover of darkness, bladed chains rained down. 


	5. Learning Curve part 5

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part V (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
Ryouga gave a small jump back, and out of their way as they dug into the ground. His hand reached up, and brushed back and forth, procuring a handful of bandannas. He spun them a bit longer, and jumped again, letting them fly in three waves of three. Mousse instantly switched to the defensive. His first attempt, with a wooden spear, was a total failure, as the bandannas cut through it like cardboard, forcing the master of hidden weapons to make a costly dodge attempt that drew first blood. Not missing a beat, the male Amazon switched approaches, and pulled out two steel maces, using both hands independently to intercept and deflect the next two small swarms of bladed bandannas.   
  
He landed, and turned, watching Ryouga do the same.   
  
Without a word, they charged each other. Ukyou forced herself to look away from the fight, and grabbed the hilt of the umbrella lying against a large tree. Lifting with her legs, she was able to get it off the ground, but not without a strong effort. She knew she'd gotten stronger since she saw him last, but the umbrella seemed two or three times heavier than before. It was just like the first time she'd tried picking it up, almost a year ago.  
  
Mousse broke from the fight, hand flipped out, and spun. Ryouga moved in to pursue, but caught the glint of metal hidden behind Mousse's robes. Jumping up, he tricked Mousse into a preemptive lunge, and finally saw the weapons - Mandarin Duck Blades. They were smaller than normal Deerhorn Knives, but still damn deadly in the hands of a master. Mousse moved more quickly and expertly now, using complex movements and attacks with the weapons beyond Ryouga's knowledge of them. It was getting dangerous.  
  
"All right. That's enough!" Ryouga brought his forearm forward, and in-between two blades of the knives. With a quick twist, and a trickle of blood from where the edges caught his skin, Ryouga forced an opening. His hand found Mousse's wrist, twisted, and in the same instant, the other Mandarin Duck Knife was wrenched free. Mousse's eyes widened, as a blazing red and black aura snapped into existence around the lost boy. Before his opponent could recover, Ryouga's right hand drew back, just a few inches, and shot forward, palm open, impacting Mousse's sternum like a pile driver. The Amazon flew back twenty feet, a solid tree finally meeting his back with a loud crack.   
  
Mousse fell to his feet, breathing heavily. Behind him, the tree groaned, and fell. Gently, he reached up, felt the area where Ryouga had hit him, and drew back his hand in a silent grimace of pain. Meters distant, Ryouga lowered his arm slowly, and frowned. Letting out a deep breath, Mousse concentrated, and his own battle aura crackled to life. He jumped again, and arms splayed wide, let fly an arsenal of weapons, chained and otherwise, coupled with a hailstorm of the many varieties of throwing knives he had on his person.   
  
Ryouga moved like lightning among the weapons, dodging every one, and Mousse prepared his most powerful attack. His most powerful, improved, attack. Feeling his hands on the weapon, and seeing Hibiki in position and range, the Chinese Amazon let his Ki flow into his weapon, making it stronger and faster - letting it defy reality itself. With a yell, he moved to strike.   
  
"Painiyao Chuan REVISED!"  
  
"Eh?" Ryouga saw a flash of white, but felt a dozen blows across his body, at near Amaguriken speeds. This was impressive, since whatever had hit him obviously wasn't a fist or foot - a weapon of some kind, used at blinding speed. Impressive indeed.  
  
"Just not enough." Ryouga opened his eyes, and lunged. He found, in front of him, what looked to be a training potty in the shape of a swan. It was already slightly cracked from hitting him so many times, and when Ryouga's fist met it, the weapon shattered like a broken Ming vase. However, instead of stopping, or even slowing down, the meaty fist continued on course, slamming into the side of Mousse's face. The Amazon went limp, reducing damage from the blow, but lost his glasses.   
  
"Remember this, my Myopic Friend," Ryouga said and pulled back his hand. With a single movement, he sent a tiny charge of Ki into his palm as it glanced against Mousse's robes. "Yubisaki Ishimi Miketsukan!"  
  
In midair, Ryouga reached out and caught the glasses.  
  
Next to him, Mousse hit the ground.  
  
"Agh... what?" Mousse struggled weakly, but his clothes were like a vice now. They were as tight and immobile as pure lead, and just as heavy. It was like being wrapped up in a ton of industrial strength chains. As he tried to break free, he was thankful that his robes allowed so much room underneath - if he had been wearing tight clothes, not only would he be immobilized, but also unable to breathe, especially if he had been caught in the instant he exhaled air.   
  
"What happened to him?" Ukyou walked over, carrying a red umbrella, even though it was useless now.  
  
"Just one of my little... tricks." Ryouga reached out, and took the umbrella from her effortlessly. He looked down at Mousse. "He should be fine, however."  
  
"Gah!" Mousse gave one last attempt to escape before silently admitting defeat.  
  
"Now." Ryouga knelt down, and smiled a little. "Why were you following me? I know you attacked me because of Shampoo, and maybe Ranma. But I don't think you would have followed me just because of that."  
  
"That would be because of me." A familiar, female voice answered from in the shadows, behind them. Ryouga and Ukyou pivoted, and saw the source.  
  
"Nabiki." Both gritted their teeth.  
  
"Ooh. Stereo sound." Nabiki walked up, smiling in a most predatory fashion. "I'm afraid I needed to find you, so I put a little bounty on your head among a select few people. Mousse was one of them."  
  
"Typical." Ryouga crossed his arms. "How long were you watching?"  
  
"I saw the whole thing." She chuckled. "Very impressive, from what I could see."  
  
"Which probably wasn't that much," Ukyou added, her voice critical.  
  
"It was enough." The middle Tendo sister reached down, and rapped her knuckles on Mousse's robe. It was like hitting a solid block of metal, and its texture was similar, even though it still looked like normal cloth. "Interesting."  
  
"Alright, Nabiki. Let's strike a little deal." Ryouga sighed. "I need to find my house. My dog..."  
  
"Had puppies. I know." Nabiki also crossed her arms under her breasts. "I'll take you there, if you fill me in on your capabilities, and give me control over when you fight Ranma."  
  
"I fight, when and where I want to fight... but I will tell you what I know, if you can take me home. I need to be there."  
  
"Deal." Nabiki paused a second. "Where is your house, anyway?"  
  
Ryouga scratched his head. "Well... You may not like the answer to that."  
  
***  
  
Mousse was sulking.  
  
Granted, this was not something revolutionary. But it bore mentioning, none-the-less. After his little run in with Hibiki, and soon after the mercenary Tendo had left, he'd been released. Hibiki had simply knelt down, touched the fabric of his prison, and with an almost inaudible murmur, that sounded almost like 'Bakusai Tenketsu,' the fabric, formerly as heavy and hard as a foot of cast iron, just gave way and crumpled into flecks of dust and strips of cord. Luckily, Mousse still had a formidable arsenal of chains and other weapons to ...conceal himself. Hibiki then put some fresh wood on the nearby campfire, and resumed talking to Kuonji Ukyou.   
  
Of course, Mousse always had a spare set of clothes hidden... somewhere.  
  
He wasn't the Master of Hidden Weapons for nothing!  
  
Dressing in his spare, and putting back as many weapons as he could recover, Mousse paused at the broken 'Fist' of the White Swan. The memory of a real fist, smashing through the weapon, and getting inexorably closer, came unbidden. Looking over at the two martial artists, he saw Ryouga lean back a little, and scratch the back of his head while Kuonji laughed softly. Mousse's glasses slipped down his nose a bit, and he reached up, pushing them stubbornly back into position.   
  
When they'd fought, Mousse had barely even come close to touching Hibiki, much less doing any real harm. He'd heard of the resilience and toughness that followed the Bakusai Tenketsu training, and he'd seen the three women of the village who had gone through it fight. Needless to say, Mousse knew even one blow from the Revised Fist should have at least winded them some, maybe even stunned them for a second or two.   
  
How was it possible that Hibiki had simply ...ignored the blows?  
  
What kind of a monster was he?  
  
Mousse cursed silently, and turned to leave. Then, abruptly, he looked over his shoulder at the two. Not just martial artists, but friends. Between chasing Shampoo, and picking up what he could to impress her, martial arts-wise, to convince her he was as strong as any Outsider male, he'd never had time or an opportunity for friends. The life of a male Amazon was nothing particularly interesting, which only served to widen the divide between himself and his Amazon brothers.   
  
They were, as a group, far to demure and skittish to be around for extended periods of time. His year-brothers, he had been ...almost close to, when he was young, and they'd all practiced cooking and cleaning and the male 'Arts.' But as the years went by, he found that he just couldn't stand their incessant chatting, their physical weakness... and worst, their veiled contempt and jealousy. All because Mu Tzu could fight, and wanted to fight, and pursued a woman instead of the other way around. For Mousse, the word 'Tomboy' bit especially deeply.  
  
Maybe... this was a chance.   
  
Walking slowly to the camp, he couldn't help but see Hibiki's eyes follow him, searching for any sign of attack. And yet, as the same time, there wasn't any true hostility or pity in his eyes, only curiosity, and a little sadness. The former, Mousse could understand, but the latter? What did Hibiki, who could fight, who had friends, who was free of obligations, have to be sad about?  
  
"Hey," he said, unsure, and noted that Ukyou still seemed a little tense around him, while Ryouga seemed essentially indifferent. A weak smile from her pushed Mousse forward, the ever-present fear of derision and mocking diminishing. "Good fight."  
  
"It was," Ryouga answered. "You even tagged me a couple times."  
  
"You were holding back."  
  
"I don't fight to hurt people." Ryouga motioned to his side, in between himself and Ukyou, who sat opposite him. "Except Saotome, of course. But the three of us share that one interest in common. You wanna sit?"  
  
"Thanks." He sat. The ground was soft, but not moist, which was good. Moisture still made him uncomfortable, damn Jyusenkyo to hell.  
  
An uncomfortable silence followed.  
  
"Hey," Ukyou finally said something. It had just occurred to her. "Where did you get your clothes? You were in your birthday suit when Ryouga broke you out."  
  
Mouse arched an eyebrow. "Secret of the trade."  
  
"You know, I've seen this guy transform in and out of his curse." Ukyou saw Mousse twitch, and realized she'd made a mistake. "Oh! I'm..."  
  
"No." Mousse shrugged. "It's ok. Really. The curse is as much a part of me as my thrice damned vision."  
  
"And my kami damned sense of direction." Ryouga squeezed his eyes shut.   
  
Depression reigned.  
  
"Anyway." Ukoyu hated to see Ryouga sulk like that. And it didn't make her all to happy to see Mousse like that either, even if she barely knew him. "I saw Shampoo splash him with water, at the Nekohanten, where this poor guy works..."  
  
"Unfortunately I didn't see it coming." Mousse added.  
  
"Of course you didn't see it coming! Anyway, and he transforms, ok?" Ukyou continued, after hitting Mousse on the shoulder and getting him to clam up. "Nothing surprising there. But when he gets turned back, a kettle of hot water later, he's got his clothes on!"  
  
Ryouga perked up at that. "That's like Old Man Saotome! He transforms back fully clothed, too! How?"  
  
"Hmm." Mousse considered that. He'd seen Genma, at the Tendos and at Doctor Tofu's, in both his panda guise and as a human being (such that he was), but he'd never seen him transform. "He must know a great deal about concealment then. It took me a while to figure it out myself... and even now, it's difficult to explain. It does make the curse a little more tolerable, though. The last thing I need is a bunch of women leering at me."  
  
"Leering at you?" Ukyou scoffed. "Awfully full of yourself, aren't ya?"  
  
Mousse paused before answering that. "I'm an Amazon, remember. Women are all hentai perverts, anyway. ...Always trying to cop a feel. Especially Shampoo. Much as I love her, she never passes up the chance to feel up a guy she likes..."  
  
"So... but she..." Ryouga's eyes went wide. "That was no accident, then!"  
  
And promptly passed out.  
  
Ukyou seemed stunned, and then shook Mousse's hand. "Congratulations. You knocked him out, sugar."  
  
***  
  
GLOMP  
  
"Nihao!"  
  
"Uh... hi, Shan. Mind, er, letting go here?"  
  
"Sure!" Shampoo backed off, after giving certain parts of him one last squeeze. Looking him over, again, she smiled - he seemed in good condition. Then again, considering he'd been doing this most of his life, it wasn't really that much of a surprise that nothing major seemed to have happened to him. He was a good friend, like Mousse almost was, and without the obsession... on her, specifically, anyway.  
  
"You look good, Shampoo. Your birthday's... when?"  
  
"The twentieth of April, 6:12 AM." Mousse interrupted, his voice laced with tension. He'd led Ryouga from Ukyou's, where he had stayed for the night after they left the park together. It had been more than enough time for Mousse to be filled in on the Lost Boy's stance with his Shampoo. They were friends, and considering how few friends Shampoo had here in Japan, it was put forward that this was a healthy thing. For both of them, truthfully, because Ryouga didn't really have anyone outside Nerima, and a scant few other haunts. At least Mousse and Shampoo always knew they had a home, though it was far away, for them to visit. Ryouga's house was, supposedly, nearby, but given his direction, it might as well be somewhere in Outer Mongolia.   
  
None of this, however, made seeing Shampoo glomp onto him easier and, in traditional hentai Amazon fashion, give him a few subtle squeezes. Mousse had been in a similar position often enough, at home, though never with Shampoo - and never with anyone he particularly respected or felt even close to liking in that way. It was frustrating; no one understood, and he'd long ceased really trying to explain the nuances of Joketsuzoku behavior and society. Hell, the word 'Amazon' tended to make people here either nervous or dreamy-eyed. Subsequently, Mousse settled for gnashing his teeth in relative silence while Shampoo fussed over Ryouga, looking for physical differences.   
  
As if half a year would have that much effect on a person's body.  
  
"Is granny in?"  
  
"Right here, boy." Cologne came out from behind him, causing Ryouga to almost jump out of his skin. Almost.  
  
"Elder Cologne." He recovered from the surprise smoothly, and nearly without missing a beat. "Could I get a Dim Sum? Ooooh, and some Ramen! With meat - lots of meat!"  
  
"That's the greeting I get?" Cologne smiled. ...Almost.  
  
"You know me. I'm always more forthcoming on a full stomach." He took a seat, and brushed off Shampoo after she undid one of his bandannas. "Hey! I don't have an unlimited supply of those, you know."  
  
"How many you have then?" She twirled it, but it didn't seem to do anything unusual.  
  
"A little over a hundred maybe. I lost count a while ago."  
  
Shampoo blinked. A hundred?  
  
"Here ya go, sonny boy." Cologne presented the ramen with her usual lightning (literally) speed. "Mousse!! Get back to work and sweep the front of the store!"  
  
Mousse snarled like a rabid animal, but went back to his little chores. Ryouga nodded in thanks for the food, and dug in, though at a level just below a typical Ranma-stuff-you-face-like-its-going-out-of-style binge. "So...? How goes the Husband Hunt?"  
  
Cologne seemed about to say something, when Shampoo interrupted. "Going good! Very good!"  
  
Ryouga seemed a little encouraged by such a vigorous response. "Good. As long as you don't kidnap anyone... or use any Jyusenkyou water..."  
  
Mousse flinched, before leaving the restaurant, broom in hand.  
  
"...Then it shouldn't be a problem," Ryouga finished and went back to the food. Truthfully, he did have some doubts as to whether encouraging the Amazons was a good idea. Ranma obviously had some interest in Akane, and that feeling was reciprocal, if repressed and hidden behind harsh words and anger, respectively. Still, Shampoo was a good girl, and a good catch, and she seemed to take the obligation to 'love' Saotome very seriously. He couldn't just tell her that she didn't have a chance, especially when he suspected she did.  
  
In Ryouga's opinion, Ranma never seemed one to rate family honor that high (look at his role model of a father), and though Kodachi was a dead end with a pit of spikes at the end, Shampoo did have a genuine chance to win that rat bastard's heart, if she tried. The question was whether he would drag it out or make a decision. However, at this point in the game, it was a moot point. Ranma would meet his end before he had to make a choice between the two.   
  
And, of course, Ryouga also knew that Ukyou was 'engaged' to Ranma as well. He also knew Saotome was oblivious to this - as well he should be. Ryouga needed Ukyou to keep the heat on Ranma while he was away. Besides, knowing him, Ranma would flatter her and sweet talk until she was convinced not to fight him, and it would only make things worse. Oddly, he found he couldn't even picture Ukyou as trying to be Ranma's fiancée after all she'd said, and said she'd did.   
  
Still, anything was possible, no matter how remote.   
  
Lost in his thoughts, as always, Ryouga realized he'd been operating on automatic. Nodding and make the occasional reply independent of what he was really concentrating on. It was a useful habit to have, sometimes, but it was a lot of trouble in others. Cologne was talking about some business at the village, and wondering if he'd gotten close (like he wouldn't have noticed). Apparently, Shampoo was planning on taking a trip back home for a few weeks, something about that 'Happosai' person that Mr. Tendo had mentioned before. Then, one word caught his immediate attention.  
  
"Jyusenkyou..."  
  
"Soap," Shampoo repeated. "Jyusenkyou soap. Could be cure to cat curse."  
  
"Shampoo, you should know better than to order from them by now." Cologne sighed, and got out Ryouga's Dim Sum. "It's always one thing or another."  
  
"But great grandmother, is waterproof soap! What could be wrong with waterproof soap? So simple!"  
  
"A cure." Ryouga's voice bordered on being a whisper. "A cure.... Shampoo... I must have it."  
  
"Shampoo only order one box of soap. Is too, too expensive." She looked away from the obvious disappointment and crushing depression on his face.  
  
"I see." He cupped his hands, and looked up at the ceiling. "If it works, though... if it works. I'd kill for a cure..."  
  
The calm tone in his voice left little doubt that he hadn't been exaggerating. Or, that if he was, he was close enough to meaning it that the line became blurred. Shampoo became a little nervous, just then - she'd been ready to kill Ranma-chan, back when she thought she was just a food-thieving girl with a nasty sucker-punch/kick, but she's always approached it with a measure of passion. Letting the heat of the moment simply cloud any other inhibitions she had, of which there weren't that many to begin with.   
  
Ryouga, though, said it like he was saying something so obvious that even a child would know it. That, and the simple fact that she'd never really been around a male who could, at any time, physically overwhelm her, as she knew Ryouga could without even trying, unnerved her. For the best warrior of her generation, just being around a male (of all things) powerful enough to smash through her defenses like paper was a humbling and slightly disturbing experience.  
  
"A cure for this... freakish body." He clenched his fist, and screwed his eyes shut. Cologne seemed content to watch, dispassionately, but Shampoo wasn't as cold - could never be as cold as he ancient mentor.  
  
"Shampoo like you the way you are," she whispered, and but if Ryouga heard it, he didn't give any indication.  
  
***  
  
Tendo Dojo.  
  
"How much?"  
  
"Two thousand yen for the first week, one thousand for every three days after that." Nabiki grinned, imperiously. Her posture, and her voice, made her seem the type who didn't suffer fools kindly, but preferred to make fools suffer. She was in obvious control of the situation.  
  
"Damn it... fine. You've got a deal. I just need a few more days, then I'll be ready to take him down." Ranma stopped in his pacing and looked at her closely.   
  
"Of course." She confirmed what he wanted to hear, though the tone irritated him.  
  
"A week, maybe a little more. You give me that week, and I'll guarantee the victory you want."  
  
"Good. Very good." The middle Tendo daughter made as to leave. "Are you sure you don't want...?"  
  
"I'll find out on my own. I think you've ...helped me enough as it is." Ranma's voice was level and calm, practiced and controlled. For once.  
  
"I'm always there in case you change your mind." Nabiki gave him a little salute with two fingers, and left the dojo. As she walked back to her room, she couldn't help but privately laugh a little. Everything was going smoothly. Manipulating Ranma was easy, and keeping tabs on Ryouga, while difficult at times, was well within her means. The stakes in this fight were higher than they'd ever been, for all three of them. She had an opportunity to ...move events back and forth, and maximize profit, if she was careful and shrewd enough.   
  
First and foremost, was finding Ryouga's house, however.   
  
She needed his trust and his ear to make as much from the situation as she could. The problem was several-fold, however. Ryouga had made it abundantly clear that the time of the fight would be dictated by himself alone, and worse, she had no real leverage against him, and very little concrete information on him at all. But, luckily, Ranma didn't know that Nabiki actually had very little say, so far, as to when the challenge would be issued and when the fight would take place. For the crafty, Nabiki knew, the image of control was often enough to accomplish one's goals. And the fun wasn't just in the profit, but in the challenge. And balancing the two fighters to her advantage would indeed be a profitable and entertaining challenge.  
  
She heard Akane 'sneaking' up on her well in advance, however, and set her mind on other things. Turning, she gave a small, innocent smile, and cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?"  
  
"Oh!" Akane looked away, embarrassed that her stealth left more than a little to be desired. "Well... I was wondering..."  
  
"Go on."  
  
"I wanted to meet him. I want to talk to him."  
  
"You mean our friendly neighborhood lost boy? About that pet pig thing, I assume?" Nabiki knew she'd ask something similar soon, but not this soon. Last time the thought of facing Akane had reared its head Ryouga had bolted like a rabbit on an airport runway. She couldn't afford a similar occurrence, just yet, given her position.  
  
"Yeah. That. And some other things."  
  
Nabiki quickly decided to deter her. It'd be easier without Akane running around as a random factor. "Isn't he a pervert? If you just want to hit him, you can get in line behind Ranma."  
  
"I don't want to hit him! Geez, what makes you even think that?"  
  
That came as a small surprise. Nabiki, however, recovered instantly. "Didn't he sleep with you? And I've seen you snuggling up to that little black porker."  
  
"He never peeped at me." Akane smirked - it was something Nabiki rarely saw. "He didn't take suggestive pictures of me without asking, either."  
  
"Touché."  
  
"I just feel kind of sorry for him. Last time I saw him... I did hit him. I thought he was a pervert... Look, I just want to talk to him."  
  
Akane's sister sighed. "Akane, do you remember when daddy told you that Ryouga was gone before you woke up because he was looking for the bathroom?"  
  
Akane nodded.  
  
"He lied. Ryouga ran when he heard your footsteps," Nabiki spoke slightly more slowly, to make sure the point was driven home. "He's scared of you. I don't think he wants to talk. Now, if you'll excuse me..."  
  
"Nabiki." Akane reached out, and took her sister by the shoulder. "Please."  
  
Nabiki struggled with her more reasonable side - it was a fight she normally avoided altogether, and simply let the emotions vent elsewhere, but Akane's words - and that one damn word: 'please' cut deeply. Against her better judgment, against her own personal interests, she acquiesced. "...Fine."  
  
"Great." Akane's voice betrayed her. She had known her sister would give in then; it was a weakness both she and Kasumi had known of for some time, and occasionally used to their advantage. Watching her younger sister go, Nabiki cursed her own inability to outright refuse her family when they needed her help. It was always so much easier when their backs were turned... when work could be done without risking confrontation, censure, or observation. Behind the scenes, Nabiki was the master of the house. Face to face, she was the omega - lacking the maternal influence of Kasumi, the youth and passion of Akane, and the traditional authority of her father.   
  
"Feh." She dismissed the thoughts, and closed her room's door behind her. Walking up to the desk, she cleared a few stray papers, schoolwork, from her sight and off to the side, leaving a single piece of paper. It was a map only in the most generously liberal, bordering on socialist, meaning of the word, depicting a mountain labeled as Fuji-san, a mailbox, the vague location of a school, and some water. It was, needless to say, pretty much useless. If Ryouga had demarcated his house with rough degrees of Latitude and Longitude it would've been more descriptive.  
  
Not for the first time, she wondered how one person, beyond being totally brain-dead, could get themselves lost so easily?  
  
"Damn it all. Saotome... I will find you... someday." Those were the words he had snarled loud enough to scare away small animals when she'd first seen him, in the park, back before he'd managed to find Furinkan High. She was alone, as usual, reading a book and enjoying a few moments of peace and quiet between the violent madness that her house had recently become, and the violent madness that her school had been like since Akane showed up and Kuno became obsessed with her.  
  
It had been fun for about a week, but after that the constant fighting between the two fiancées had rapidly grown old, and even annoying, more often than entertaining. At school, watching Kuno get the crap kicked out of him on a tri hourly basis was also grating on her nerves. Kuno, and the Kuno clan, had always been eccentric, but things hadn't been this bad for years.   
  
In Akane's own words, 'it must be Ranma's fault.'  
  
In fact, it was his fault - but it was also hers, and Akane's and a half dozen other people's who simply watched and did nothing, and let the situation deteriorate. Apathetic teachers and a poor school environment that even encouraged violence and erratic behavior, even with the old Principal gone, wasn't conducive to any form of anything approaching normalcy. So, she had been away from Nerima, in a quiet park, when Nerima had found her.  
  
"Saotome?" She didn't even say it that loudly, and more by surprise than by design.  
  
"Huh?" The boy turned around, and noticed her, as if from a daze. His eyes were intense and piercing; his gaze like that of a drowning man only now finding a piece of driftwood to keep himself afloat. He was a total stranger, a ragged looking and desperate total stranger, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. She wasn't nearly as sexually oblivious as her older sister, or as Hominophobically repressed as her younger sister, but to say that a great many boys paid much attention to her would be more than a little generous - she was well aware that Akane was the local heartthrob, while she was the intimidating Ice Queen of Furinkan High. This boy's attention was unsettling.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss, but do you know him? Do you know Saotome Ranma?" He walked up closer, and she made out an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. Was he shy or something?  
  
It was a moment of weakness on his part, and was all the crack in the armor of the situation that Tendo Nabiki needed to gain the advantage. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who wants to know?"  
  
She idly rapped her knuckles on the desk, and stared at the map, dismissing the clear memory of the meeting. Not for the first time, she wondered why she had given him that map and the directions to Furinkan High. There was the money, of course, but that was aside from the actual motivation. For a while, she had simply told herself that he was a useful tool. Ranma was cocky - damn cocky, and full of himself. It had rubbed her the wrong way the day he'd arrived, and continued to do so ever since.   
  
A healthy portion of the reason behind his poor treatment of everyone in the house, herself included, was that selfsame overconfidence. She'd always wanted to shatter it, and had endeavored to do so herself, but Ranma only considered loss in Martial Arts any sort of priority. Outsmarting him, or anything similar, had no effect. Ryouga fitted in nicely in taming the wild horse a little, especially once he had demonstrated his strength by effortlessly demolishing a brick wall. If anyone stood a chance of beating Ranma, and taking him down a few pegs for her, even indirectly, it was him.  
  
And yet...   
  
"Nah." Nabiki folded up the map and pocketed it. She had her associates combing the area and asking for the Hibiki residence - it wasn't listed in the phone book, but clerical records had narrowed down the search area significantly. She'd have him where she wanted him by tomorrow, after school, and after that, she'd have the fight under her thumb. It was as easy at that.   
  
As simple as that.  
  
***  
  
The subtle shift of balance, and inch to the left, was noted. Ryouga's eyes darted to the left, and watched the handling of the weapons, looking for any commitment in direction or focus. They two fighters came in low and fast, but to him, it was like watching a video at half speed. A casual back flip brought him the room he needed before they passed below him, attacks missing by a safe margin. In midair, he watched them recover and followed their eyes and head movements as they looked for him.   
  
Shampoo was the first.  
  
She had always been sharp, that one.  
  
Of the two, Shampoo had both the most training, and the most fighting experience, and a healthy dose of raw power, which made up for her somewhat inferior speed. She'd obviously been practicing, he noted, as she charged his landing spot, forcing him to twist and avoid her blows before his feet even touched the ground. Leaning back, he caught Ukyou moving in from the side, and cranked up his speed a notch when his ears picked up the almost inaudible sound of metal cutting through air. For a second, his arms blurred, appearing almost like swirling storm, as the three attackers moved in, their respective weapons moving to strike any and all opportunities.  
  
He observed them as he moved, bordering on invisibility at the speeds he had to use to keep from being tagged.   
  
Ukyou was controlled rage. A determined glint in her eyes, like chipped flint, caught him as she made a shirt, swift, economical lunge. Her hair was tied up behind her in a ponytail to keep from getting in the way - unlike Shampoo, she was unused to fighting full out with her hair long. Her bladed spatula missed him by millimeters, which was more than enough in his estimation. A miss by a mile was, in the end, the same as a miss by a millimeter. Of the two girls... of the two young women, Ukyou had, perhaps, the most untapped potential. She had trained alone, very much like Ryouga himself had, and she was eager to improve and focus herself on things. If she approached fighting with the same devotion she gave to Okyonomiaki, she'd be as good as Ranma and himself, almost certainly.  
  
Mousse passed overhead, raining down blades and nets, as Shampoo and Ukyou started to move away.  
  
"Oh? Thought they pinned me down, did they?" Ryouga thought, as the nets and blades descended, the trap both obvious and clever. Ryouga smiled, and crossing his arms, leaped up and right into the overlapping nets. Tucking his legs in, he let himself get tangled up as his momentum carried him up and away. Keeping track of his course, and his inertia, he angled himself to bounce off the nearby wall of an old building, pushing off with the tips of his toes, spinning like a top, and finally landing on his feet, still mostly tucked in like a ball and covered by the nets. Through the crisscross wire, he saw Ukyou and Shampoo moving forward at a brisk pace.  
  
A snarl left Ryouga lips as his muscles truly flexed for the first time. The wire bit into his skin, but he barely felt it. Razor wire would have been a problem, but even then it would only have been a little blood lost, and the wounds would have healed quickly. Letting out a snort of air, Ryouga allowed himself a small laugh, and tore through the wire like it was made of soft noodles. He saw the surprise on Ukyou's face, as she slowed slightly, and switched to Shampoo, who was still charging.  
  
Mistake.  
  
"Flour Bomb!"  
  
"Kuso!" Ryouga moved to the side, as Ukyou Kuonji blanketed the area in smoke. She'd obviously improved the weapons - they exploded in the air, now, letting out the smoke screen more efficiently and over a wider area. The Lost Boy's eyes narrowed, searching the smoke, as he held his breath. She descended from above, like an avenging angel, her weapon's glare against the sun giving her away. He thought about catching the weapon, but instead rolled to the side, disappearing in the dust and smoke.  
  
"Nice try, Ukyou!" He moved quickly, letting his voice mislead her. "You almost had me. You were so close."  
  
"There!" She struck, but hit nothing.  
  
"It must be all this smoke. Let me take care of it!" Ryouga jumped back from behind her, and concentrated his Ki. "Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!"  
  
The wind from the open palmed blows almost instantly scattered the smoke screen to the four winds, and Ryouga quickly broke it off as the three martial artists turned their attention to him. They moved in like a team - not a well-oiled team, but one well enough. A bonbori blow from Shampoo came close, missing his chest by the slimmest of margins, as Mousse appeared to the side, wielding a large polearm with a heavy metal cap on the blunt end. Ukyou quickly joined them as the trio got back a third or fourth wind. They had been attacking him, to help them practice as much as himself, all morning. After waking up, and getting lost, in Ukyou's restaurant, he'd been surprised to find his three friends, two old and one new, eager to get some training in. Ukyou had even skipped school for it - though naturally she had to take care of the breakfast crowd before anything else could even be considered. It was well past noon now - time to end it.  
  
Without warning, he seamlessly switched from defensive to offensive. With a single hand motion, he had the handle of Ukyou's spatula in his hands, and used it to directly counter Shampoo's bonbori, both of which were sent flying from a twist of the larger weapon. Shampoo spun, her sword in hand, trying to get some distance now that his tactics had changed. Ryouga noted it, and shifted his stance, using the back of his left foot to trip up the cute Okyonomiaki chef, sending her flailing to the ground indignantly, her weapon lost. Ryouga spun the somewhat unwieldy megaspatula, deflecting a trio of thrown stars, before planning the weapon firmly into the ground and using it as leverage to improve his reach and kick deep through Mousse's defenses, sending him flying. Shampoo was next, and last, as Ryouga tapped aside her blade in midstrike, pivoted on his heel like a ballet dancer, or, to be more exact: a Martial arts Gymnast. He had Shampoo in an arm lock in a heartbeat.  
  
"Game over," he stated, simply, and let her go. Turning around, he saw Mousse getting to his feet a little unsteadily. "Mousse, you all right? I accidentally hit a little higher than I wanted."  
  
"Yeah." He held up his hand, but groaned a bit. With the fight over, and things cooled down, the four warriors went over their moves and motivations from before, each in turn. For each, Ryouga explained why he did what he did, so that next time they'd be able to improve or come up with new ideas more easily. He explained, much to Shampoo's unconcealed distaste, that he considered Mousse the most dangerous of them, based on his wider repertoire of moves, weapons, superior reach and endurance. Ryouga was careful not to suggest that Mousse was better than Shampoo, only that he was considered more dangerous in many ways, none of which correlated to faults in the young female Amazon, who more than once interjected that Black Arts 'Trickery' wasn't really Martial Arts, regardless.  
  
He went to Shampoo next, complimenting and critiquing her style, which was highly grounded in offensive attacks, like his own, and her weapons handling. Of the three, she was the strongest and most aggressive, but she also left herself open too often. He saved Ukyou for last, and continued talking to her while the two Joketsuzoku made they way back to the Nekohanten - they'd both be pulling late shifts tonight to compensate for missing work in the morning.   
  
Of them, Ryouga considered Ukyou his best friend. He had known her longer, and spent more time around her. He knew her better than Shampoo, and much better than Mousse, and of the three, in his heart, he knew he had the most fun fighting against her. While a girl, precluding physically striking her any more than a tap, she had an excellent balance of strength and endurance, and a good measure of speed - a necessity when one's foe is Saotome Ranma. Better still, she was unpredictable, possessing a variety of moves, much like Mousse, coupled with a healthy dose of rage and aggression; the perfect motivator. Her ability to improvise was also there, though underdeveloped.  
  
One thing he wasn't sure of however, was how she'd been able to hide her femininity for so long. Hell, he hadn't even found her out on his own, even after weeks of traveling and training together. He remembered how he'd found out the truth all too vividly...  
  
"Aaah..." Ryouga sighed, relaxing into the hot spring. How fortuitous had it been that they'd stumbled across gift from the gods? Right when Ukyou was getting frustrated with him getting them hopelessly and endlessly lost, too. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of a sign - Something about a Martial Artist's Therapeutic ...something?   
  
"Whatever," he mumbled. Probably a tourist trap. The place was sort of run down. Speaking up, he called for Ukyou. "Hey, man! You coming or what?"  
  
"Hold on!"  
  
Ryouga wrung his hands together, enjoying the warmth, and the wetness that was minus the hellish pig curse he'd been inflicted with. He'd managed to keep that under wraps for a few days, at least until a sudden downpour got him right in front of his companion. They'd had a good laugh about it in the end, though, and laughing with someone was definitely and infinitely superior to being laughed at, Ryouga knew firsthand.  
  
Still, he sensed Ukyou was holding something back - a weakness of his own, perhaps, Ryouga didn't know and didn't pry, but there seemed to be something the boy felt obliged to share with him: something of some importance. And why had he insisted that they wear bathing suits to a hot spring? This wasn't like they were at the beach... then again it was really just a small matter. He must be shy, and Ryouga's swim trunks hadn't seen use in what seemed like forever. As it was, they were more than a little tight and uncomfortable.  
  
"Ok," Ukyou's voice seemed... off. "Here I come."  
  
"All right." Ryouga rolled his tongue right before Ukyou stepped into view and it fell out altogether. His hand moved at Amaguriken speeds, catching his nose and saving him from a dual stroke-fatal nosebleed. "Gr... Gr... Girl!"  
  
"Surprised?" She smiled and shrugged. In her one-piece bodysuit, the movement did little to help the situation. The last thing Ryouga saw was some guy jumping out of the water, yelling something, and getting a face-to-face introduction to Megaspatula-sama.   
  
Ryouga shook his head, and laughed nervously. What an odd thing to remember. After Ukyou was sure he wasn't lost in the bathroom (he wasn't that bad, he kept telling her), she handed him some new clothes and closed the door behind her. Looking at what he'd been handed for the first time, as a change of clothes, he quirked an eyebrow at the selection - a black, regular looking, shirt and jeans. It was rather uninspired.   
  
Then again, compared to wearing the same combination of clothes for weeks on end, even if they were treated with Ki making them almost maintenance free, wasn't exactly inspired decision making either. The change didn't particularly thrill him. He was used to his loose, familiar clothing. The jeans would be all right, as long as he didn't try and thing too outlandish, but the shirt seemed thin and light and impractical. His regular clothes were wonderfully heavy, thanks to his Ki infusions, but these... threads seemed to have the weight and consistence of papier-mâché.  
  
Taking off his tunic and pants, and folding them away, he took a brisk shower, keeping the water at a temperature that probably would have scalded a normal man. He wasn't really in the mood for a soak just now, and decided to forego the furo. It'd been about a week, to the day, since he'd arrived in Nerima from his travels, and two things dominated his thoughts, one old, one new. We wanted to see Shirokuro badly. He wanted to know that she was all right, wanted to see her puppies... wanted to just be home, to make sure everything was as it should be. Maybe, just maybe, one of his parents would even be home, as unlikely as that really was.   
  
The other thought was Ranma - his foul nemesis was, no doubt, even now training to the point of exhaustion to catch up to him in skill and power. Not that he was concerned; Ryouga was more curious as to how well Saotome's training was progressing. He had his father, and his school's tricks, neither of which were to be underestimated. Consequently, he'd felt inclined to encourage Mousse and Ukyou to try challenging him in tandem. The two of them would be an entertaining and effective gauge as to Ranma's level of advancement, especially after a few more training sessions. Ukyou's safety in such a plan did present a problem, but Ryouga was sure it wouldn't come to that. Ukyou was no fool: she'd bail out of things turned badly, and if worse came to worse, Mousse would be there, too.   
  
Besides, what was done was done.  
  
Wringing out his hair, and stepping out of the shower onto the tiled floor, he quickly felt the tingling sensation of the rapidly cooling water on his skin. The curse, like a demon inside his body, was slowly starting to emerge, threatening to tear the humanity from him. A flare of anger and depression provided more than enough catalyst to spark a fraction of his battle aura, warming the water on his skin. It was a trick he eventually hoped to use to completely dry himself, but it was far from perfect. By nature, battle aura wasn't hot near the skin, and it had to be forced, mentally, to turn in on itself. He'd burned himself more than once, despite his high pain tolerance and resistance to heat, when practicing. This time, he settled for simply heating up the droplets, and quickly toweling himself off.   
  
Putting the new clothes on, he called down, letting Ukyou know he was done, and found his way down to the restaurant after a few missteps that led him into a closet and back into the bathroom, respectively. Downstairs, he manned the grill while Ukyou washed up. She was far his superior in this battleground, but he could hold his own well enough, considering he was only a temporary substitute. It was more important that someone was simply there than they actually do any large measure of cooking.  
  
"Nabiki!" He snapped to attention when the middle Tendo daughter walked in with two of her friends. He recognized them from before, but didn't actually know them. Still, if Nabiki was here, that meant only one thing.  
  
"I'll have a Shrimp."  
  
Ryouga's left eye twitched.  
  
"Mushroom," said the girl to her left.  
  
"Vegetarian," said the one to her right.  
  
Two more twitches.  
  
"W...What about...?" He started, but Nabiki cut him off.  
  
"Food first, Ryouga-kun."  
  
He grumbled, but did as she asked. Getting the ingredients together, he watched them head to one of the booths. Of everyone in Nerima, only Tendo Nabiki made him nervous. Akane downright frightened him... and other things. But with Nabiki, he felt inadequate and insecure: more so than normal, anyway. She was damn near impossible to read properly, and she guarded her words zealously.   
  
Getting the ingredients together quickly, though more slowly and with less finesse than Ukyou, he prepared the three meals and waited for them to cook. Standing there, he caught a glance from one of the girls, long hair, brown, sort of like Ukyou's, looking at him. He concentrated on them, trying a little eavesdropping, but couldn't pick up anything to note - just giggling. It was a noise he was familiar with. Girls had been laughing at him since he was five, maybe younger.  
  
"Let them laugh at me," he reminded himself. "I don't care. I don't care at all. Not at all..."  
  
The phrase calmed him, and he flipped the okyonomiaki. They went back to talking to each other, and Ryouga made a point of ignoring them altogether. So long as Nabiki could take him home, he couldn't care less what she schemed, or thought, or did, or said to others. He turned, instead, to the cooking, cleaning up the sides, making sure the shape was close to perfect, and taking out three plates. Ukyou had taught him a little more than the basics to cooking her favorite food, and her livelihood, when they had walked about together, before he decided he needed some time to himself, and that Ukyou was good enough to go after Saotome herself. He'd headed off with nowhere in mind the day after, in the morning, and ended up in Korea two days later.   
  
In a smooth motion, he flipped the three okyonomiakis onto three different plates, held in the same hand. Heading over, he stopped himself, re-corrected his course via Line of Sight, and walked over. "One vegetarian, one mushroom, and one shrimp."  
  
"You can put all three on my tab," Nabiki said, straight faced.  
  
"Is that so?" Ryouga spared a quick look at the two other girls, obviously not as well versed in concealing their emotions, and cracked a half-smile. "Nice try, Nabiki. You almost had me believing you for a second there. Tab! Ha!"  
  
"A girl can only try." She smiled back.   
  
"Enjoy the food." His face melted back into a near frown, its apparent default, before walking back to the grill.  
  
"He could stand to be a little friendlier," The longhaired girl said and watched him go.  
  
"Hmm... but at least he can cook," The other spoke up and contently chewed on a piece of her vegetarian okyonomiaki. "Not hard on the eyes, either. He almost looks like Ranma, to tell the truth. Just a little rougher around the edges."  
  
Nabiki said nothing, covering her silence by taking a few tentative bits out of her food. It wasn't nearly up to Kasumi standards, or Ukyou standards, but it was still good. That wasn't her concern, however. She chatted idly with her associates while chipping away at her meal. After a few minutes, Ukyou came down from the backroom, her hair still looking a little wet. Ryouga leaned over, exchanged a few words, and let her take the grill. The door chimed quietly as a couple entered, took a seat, and ordered. Nabiki checked her watch, just as the door opened again.  
  
"Akane-san!" Ryouga took a few steps back, before hitting the wall. "What are...?"  
  
Akane waved, put on a friendly front, and slowly walked up to him. "Nabiki and I are taking you home."  
  
"You... are?" He relaxed a fraction of a motor unit. "You aren't still... You don't...? I..."  
  
"It's just nice to see you again, Ryouga-kun. It's alright, really."  
  
"But I... it's not really all right, Akane-san." He looked away and spoke so softly even Akane barely heard him. "What I did. I don't expect your forgiveness, but..."  
  
"Come on." Nabiki got up, and moved next to the two. "Time to go."  
  
"Wait a second." He looked at the table. "What about paying for the food?"  
  
"I told you. I have a tab here." She couldn't help but grin at the surprised, and unprepared look on his face when he saw Ukyou nod in confirmation.  
  
"And my tip?" He held out his hand.  
  
"I'm not paying anything. 10% of nothing is...?"  
  
"Nothing. Wonderful." He sighed. "Let's go."  
  
What kind of girl only tips 10% anyway? 


	6. Learning Curve part 6

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part VI (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
A long, pregnant silence followed the trio as they walked out of Nerima Ward and inexorably to the supposed location of Ryouga's house. Nabiki was leading, so they weren't traveling at anything approaching the clip Ryouga or even Akane were used to. But out of the three, she alone knew the way there. While walking, Nabiki took a moment to understand just how the lost boy could get so lost. Many roads in Tokyo, she had to admit, were narrow, one-way, unnamed, and had no street numbers. Wandering around outside your neighborhood, almost anyone would end up lost. Looking back at him, Nabiki checked to make sure he hadn't strayed from the group and gotten lost.  
  
He hadn't. Though the Hibiki boy took the opportunity to brood, and every time he stole a glance at the youngest Tendo daughter, he'd quietly snarl under his breath, and his mood would darken just a little bit more. Nabiki found herself oddly frustrated by the whole thing. True, she didn't need to talk to him or even enjoy his company to get the job done, but even then... even then she'd wanted, just a little, to get to know him better. He was an outsider, who didn't seem intimidated or afraid of her. He was a mystery in many ways, and at the same time, he seemed like a nice enough person. I'd be nice, for once, to carry a non-extortionist conversation with someone.  
  
"This is stupid!" Akane finally broke the silence.  
  
"Huh?" Both Ryouga and Nabiki stopped and looked at her.  
  
"I've forgiven you already," she said sharply, and whapped Ryouga in the back of the head with a small mallet. Hibiki seemed surprised, but Nabiki wasn't impressed. Small ones like that were easy - even Kasumi could 'use' them. Her father had insisted on giving a minimum of Tendo style Anything-Goes to all his daughters, though only Akane had broadened that knowledge and put it into general use. Or abuse, depending on how one looked at it.  
  
"You may have." Ryouga watched and wondered where the small mallet had suddenly disappeared. "But I haven't. I was such an idiot. Such a... just an idiot."  
  
"I guess it was kind of pathetic." Akane elbowed him when he bit his lip and started to glow green. He seemed to respond to violence a little better than words. "But we all do stupid things sometimes."  
  
"Not me," Nabiki interrupted, and they started walking again.  
  
"So why'd you do it, anyway?" Akane broached.  
  
"Youmrsde," he mumbled.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"You... kissed me. As a pig." Ryouga massaged his temples, suddenly feeling a headache coming on. "It was the first ...only time a girl had kissed me. Hell, it was the only time anyone besides my parents had shown kindness to me. I guess it really is pathetic, but when you held me, I was just happy. It was like someone actually loved me. Even if I knew it wasn't me... it was P-chan. A stupid little pig. It would've been easier if you just tried to cook me, or something. At least I'd know what to do then. I've been in that situation enough times."  
  
"Of all the people to want to cook you..."  
  
"Nabiki!" Akane pouted, and scowled. "I'd like to be friends, Ryouga. Deep down, I know you're a nice guy, and there seem to be precious few of those in my life. Just forget about the pet pig thing. As far as I'm concerned, it never happened."  
  
Ryouga thought briefly about arguing that point, but decided to simply nod and agree with her. "Sure."  
  
Nabiki took this opportunity to bring up something else entirely, more along the lines of what she needed, and perhaps wanted, to know. "Are you going to be staying in Nerima, with Ukyou, for very long?"  
  
"I dunno." Ryouga shrugged, and looked around. He vaguely remembered this place. It was a card shop he passed by all the time back when he was little, and his mother would take him shopping... until they both got lost and separated for the next intervening few weeks. "I've got the fight with Ranma, and my friends there, but I'm just not too sure. It'll depend on how things go, I guess."  
  
"Oh. I see." Nabiki thought about that.  
  
Ryouga laughed, half heartedly, "That's kind of the reason I came back, you know. I don't have anywhere else to go. My feud with Ranma is about the only life I have."  
  
"What about school?" Akane asked. Had he already graduated, or...  
  
"I dropped out of Junior High School to pursue my revenge." He gave them a serious look when he noticed the way they were looking at him. "Understand, it wasn't a difficult decision for me. The only times I ever got to school at all were when I got lucky, and found it by chance, or when I followed another student... like Ranma. When I got there, the only thing that kept me even remotely sane was my ability to defend myself."  
  
He shrugged. "I barely passed my courses, because I missed two out of three classes, and exams, and because the teachers and staff though I was just being tardy. They said I had a fear of school, a school phobia or some nonsense. I wasn't afraid of school, I just hated going. I hated being mocked most of all... when Ranma humiliated me, over and over again, it was the last straw. I quit going altogether."  
  
"Of course, they complained to my parents." He actually smiled at that, before settling back into a comfortable frown. "My parents had problems of their own to deal with. Dad made me promise to keep up my studies, and bought me some books to read while I wandered aimlessly. I kept my promise. I always keep my promises."  
  
"But you never graduated?" Nabiki idly kicked a small rock aside as they kept pace.  
  
"Nope." Ryouga brushed it off, like nothing. "There's no point. I tried to register to take the placement tests for High School once, but..."  
  
"You got lost?" Akane finished.  
  
"Yeah." He ran his hand through his hair, nervously. "It's ok, though. I'm used to it. You could call me home schooled; except for how little time I'm actually at home. Luckily, mom and dad bring new stuff for me, and leave it in the kitchen, or in the family room, or wherever they find themselves, so I rarely have to buy the books myself. Absentee parent teaching, I guess. There's probably a ton of stuff waiting for me when I get there."  
  
"That's good. I don't think Ranma would even give school a second thought except that we force him to go." Akane gave his backpack a sidelong glance. "Do you...?"  
  
"Oh, sure. I've got everything in here." He reached back, let the pack slide off his shoulders and into the crook of his arm, and rooted around with his other hand. Finally, he took out a large book, and handed it to her. The first was a study guide for the standardized tests, the same most students their age had. Then Akane stared at the cover of the second book, took a few quick steps and showed it to Nabiki. She looked at it for a few seconds, than read out loud for her sister. "Literary Classics... of the ...um..."  
  
"Renaissance."  
  
"Why is this in English?"  
  
Ryouga shrugged, and took out another. "Mom always buys stuff in English. I learn languages pretty quickly... thanks the gods. Here's one in Japanese."  
  
"Human Anatomy and Physiology?" Nabiki reeled back. "Is this a university textbook? It says it's for some introductory bio class."  
  
"I think pop got that one from a university book store, yeah. It's all straight memorization. My parents, they get stuff that catches their eye wherever they can, I guess, and drop it off for me to pick up. No real rhyme or reason to it, just, 'Wouldn't it be nice if Ryouga knew more about electrical engineering?' And they get the thing. That particular book came with a CD, too, but I lost it a few months ago... not like I have a computer to use it with, anyway. I end up losing most of my books, sooner or later, unless I can manage to get home and put them away in my room somewhere. Most of the time I never get to finish them, too."   
  
Nabiki skimmed through the 'biology textbook' as if the cover was a trick or something and the inside was a coloring book. A face fault followed two seconds later. Ryouga, meanwhile, took out two more books. "Here's a math one - a bunch of the pages on Chapters six and seven got soaked a while back in Thailand, though, before I could finish studying it, so I'm looking for a replacement."  
  
Akane's eyes were wide as saucers. "Statistical Analysis? You actually read this?"  
  
"Yeah right. Just because I have the book, doesn't mean I've learned anything from it. Especially that one. You might like it, though, Nabiki. I sure don't." He took the books and put them back in his pack, while taking some smaller soft cover ones out. "Mom also got me a bunch of English Literature stuff you've probably read before to keep me 'grounded in the arts,' as she likes to say. 'Works of Shakespeare,' 'Western International Politics 1920 to 1950,' 'Twilight of the Idols/The Anti-Christ' by a German philosopher named Nietzsche, 'Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals' by Kant..."  
  
"You've read all that stuff?" Akane thumbed through the Nietzsche book. "This isn't English..."  
  
"Oh, that one's in German."  
  
Nabiki had, at least, read some Shakespeare before, though never in English. She was one of the better students in her English class, and she could read parts of the book fairly well, but others didn't seem to make much sense. She handed it back to him, then thought of something. "If you read all this stuff because your parents want you to, what do you do for... you know: fun?"  
  
"I used to own some manga when I was back in junior high... but that's all at home. It's too bulky to carry with me, and it's too delicate for most long trips. And to tell the truth, I never had much anyway. Mostly, I focus on the Art. That's pretty much all I'm good at." Ryouga busied himself by putting the books back into his backpack, and started to walk in a perpendicular direction without noticing. Fortunately, Akane acted quickly, grabbed his collar, and pointed him back in the right direction. "Though, about two years ago, I met this guy at the University of Kyoto was into science fiction, and some of that was interesting. I bought a few books to read on the road, but ended up losing them out in the woods."  
  
Suddenly, a loud bark cut him off.  
  
The group turned, and saw a dog, black on one side, white on the other. To the amazement of both Tendo girls, Ryouga opened his arms to receive the animal and was actually bowled over. The two Hibikis rolled and wrestled for a moment, before Ryouga lay, pinned, and had to endure a severe face licking. Struggling meekly, he pushed her away a bit before giving her a big hug. "Shirokuro!! How are ya, girl? Have you been guarding the house, Shirokuro? Did you maul anyone who tried to break in? Did you girl?"  
  
"All right, that's enough now." He unclamped the dog's play bite on his forearm, and started to get to his feet, suddenly self-conscious. "Let me up. Come on. We've got guests."  
  
"Hi there." Akane bent over, and reached out to the dog, a little cautious. Most animals took a liking to her, but this was still a dog she hadn't met before. There was no point being reckless. Shirokuro gave her master a quick look, before letting Akane pet her on the head and scratch behind her ear. "What a nice doggie!"  
  
"Smartest animal I know." Ryouga beamed, proud.  
  
"I'll say," Nabiki said and held out her hand. Shirokuro sniffed it, no doubt smelling money. "How does a dog get herself on the seven o'clock news?"  
  
"No idea." Ryouga clasped his hand together, anxiously. "Shirokuro. Let's go home, girl. Home."  
  
The dog gave a quick bark, and headed down the street, slow enough for everyone to easily follow. They came, quickly, to a nice looking, middle-income house, with 'Hibiki Residence' written on a sign at the front. It was comfortable looking and quite homey. It actually seemed to exude an aura of ...near normalcy. Truth be told, Nabiki had half expected either a run down shack that no one lived in, or a crazy dojo.   
  
"Ah, home sweet home!" Ryouga took out his keys and unlocked the front door as Shirokuro went in through the dog door. The second he stepped inside, a shower of heavy furniture, assorted weights, and a whole kitchen sink buried him like an avalanche. A single piece of paper wafted down, and Nabiki caught it, carefully stepping around the mess.  
  
"Ryouga. There are thieves everywhere. Watch out for traps. Love Mom." Nabiki tapped a finger on the upturned sink with its stereotypically exposed bent pipe. "Everything and the kitchen sink. Cute."  
  
"Annoying, you mean!" A hand waved in the air a bit. He was tempted to Bakusai Tenketsu the hell out all the junk, but decided against it. Aside from making (more of) a mess, it might hurt Akane or Nabiki. Slowly, he removed himself from the pile, quickly moving the heavy objects to the side where his mother would generally put them back up when she found her way home. Closing the door behind him, he finally looked around and mentally congratulated himself.  
  
Home!  
  
He'd finally made it home!!  
  
"Hey." Ryouga faced Nabiki, and nodded in thanks, hands clenched and eyes brimming with happy tears in a manner that reminded her of the Tendo patriarch himself. "You've fulfilled your end of the bargain, Nabiki. Thank you."  
  
She almost said something she never intended. Almost. Dismissing all she'd done and gone through on a spur of the moment whim would be both a lie and turning back on her plans. Still, looking at him, happy for once, she couldn't help but feel good that she done something that had such an impact. Even though it had originally been for self-serving purposes, she wondered now, whether she would have done it just for free, if he'd asked. Why not? It'd be nice for someone to think kindly of her, for once.   
  
Though not necessarily vain, Nabiki did think highly of herself - she was proud, proud of her independence, her intelligence, and her body. And the behind the back whispering and chiding she got for it never seemed to fade or go away. Sometimes she wondered if it was simply her lot in life, whether she would end up alone and ultimately unloved, in a mansion, by herself. It was an unsettling thought, and subject, because she wasn't entirely sure that such a thing wasn't her destiny.  
  
"We made a deal." She smiled back and patted him on the shoulder. "I was just living up to my end of it."  
  
A chorus of high-pitched yelps and barks heralded a small wave of black and white puppies, lead by Shirokuro herself. The little dogs clustered around the humans, and three jumped straight up and into Ryouga arms. He took a few moments to pet and check each one, looking for distinctive marks or coloring. He was still curious as to who the father of Shirokuro's litter was. There were numerous neighborhood dogs who could be the potential sires, and only one or two he thought really worthy of the honor. Akane had her hands full, too, with two dogs that were busy licking her face. One, however, walked slowly up to Nabiki, and yipped, demanding to be picked up.   
  
"Not going to jump, hmm?" Nabiki knelt down and looked at the imperious little puppy. Finally, Nabiki scooped her up, and slowly stroked the dog's fur. It was soft - softer than Shirokuro's, and the black was more like brown than the dark onyx of her mother. Without even thinking about her, she scratched the puppy's chin. "Lazy little... do you have a name?"  
  
The puppy stared up at her and panted.  
  
"Do you want one?" Nabiki asked. Though several of their neighbors had dogs, the Tendos hadn't since Kasumi had been born. "How about 'Dollar?'"  
  
"So... umm." Ryouga looked around and slowly got his bearings on where everything in the house (hopefully) was, as he put the puppies in his arms back down. "Do you two want anything to eat or something?"  
  
"Sure!" Akane headed for the kitchen; putting her two back on ground level as well.  
  
"Don't let her in there alone." Nabiki leaned over and whispered, a little hastily, still holding Dollar.   
  
"Huh? Why?" He asked.  
  
"She's not exactly 'at home' in the kitchen, if you catch my drift."  
  
"I ...don't, to tell the truth." He shrugged, and headed in himself, checking the fridge. Akane seemed to be rooting through a cupboard with practiced ease. There were, all in all, always a few perishable foodstuffs in the Hibiki Home, for obvious reasons, but the family maintained a well-stocked supply of dry consumables, canned goods, and exotic preservatives. Anything that could be hoarded for a year or so without going bad was in generous supply.   
  
Noticing a plate on the kitchen table of shriveled up noodles, he inspected it with a casual, but practiced, eye. From the consistency of the noodles, the dryness, the layer of dust, and other minutiae, Ryouga deduced the date of preparation at about eight to nine weeks ago. When he picked up the plate, it set off a small 'click' sound, revealing a well-hidden pressure-pate.  
  
"Interesting." Leaning back, he caught the small dart in midair between his index and middle fingers. Another trap.  
  
"Gone shopping. Eat this for lunch. Mom." Ryouga folded the note, and put it aside, along with the dart. He also noted that this table was one of their many spares. Curious. Then he saw the old table, broken in half, carefully propped against the far wall. Inspecting it, he noticed the indentation of fingernails clawing furrows in the thick English oak. His mother had always been a very strong woman, and this meant father had to have been around at the same time. He was a happy for them. He knew his parents rarely saw each other. It was a good thing they were so passionately in love, or... Ryouga didn't broach that thought further.  
  
On the fridge itself had been a note from his father about a business trip to Hokkaido. He'd estimated being home by summer, which meant it'd be well after next Christmas before he saw him again. Ryouga nodded somberly to himself - he'd have to remember that and try and catch up to them next time. Akane still seemed busy looking for stuff to make. She was oddly eager. Strange, too, his Martial Artist's danger sense was tingling.  
  
"I've got some things I want to drop off in my room," he called out to either of the girls. "But I, uh, don't want to..."  
  
"I know," Nabiki volunteered, and put Dollar on the floor, allowing Akane to go back to trying to mangle a bag of crackers in an effort to open the package. "I'll make sure you don't live up to your name, lost boy."  
  
Ryouga bit back a retort, and went up the stairs into his room. Navigating the house generally wasn't a problem. He'd been born and raised here, and actually knew his way around, but it never hurt to be careful. More than once he'd gotten overconfident in his ability to NOT get lost in the house and had ended up in someone else's' place of residence without even noticing that he'd gone outside. Or maybe he'd been in someone else's house all the time, and had mistaken for his own... whatever. Regardless, it never hurt to take along a spotter, when you happened to be a Hibiki.  
  
Nabiki was about to open the door to the room he'd come to, when Ryouga grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. The sudden move, and the sudden closeness, made her blush. He had an arm around her waist, but her mind raced. He didn't seem the type! Kasumi would probably smile... vacantly, and Akane would probably slap him. Of the two, the latter seemed most appropriate, but why wasn't her body responding?  
  
"Careful. It's electrified." He pointed to the tiny hidden wires attached to the knob, and disguised carefully to look like part of the door. He let go of her wrist, then her altogether, and reached up to his forehead, taking out a bandanna. It straightened into a blade on command, and he bent over, carefully cutting the current. "She's getting better at her traps. I barely saw this one."  
  
"What? You mean like the front door?" Nabiki gladly felt her composure return.  
  
"Yep. Mom has traps everywhere. She's a little eccentric, I suppose." He opened the door safely.  
  
"Yeah. Just a little." Nabiki sighed - so much for normalcy. Ryouga's room was large, a little larger than her own, and lined from wall to wall with framed pictures and posters, a few of them family portraits, but most of far off lands and places, in addition, two large racks held innumerable souvenirs, many from Japan, and many from overseas. She also noticed a few College fliers, showing off university colors or teams. Almost half of an entire wall was solely devoted to a library of books. Everything looked recently cleaned, amazingly enough, since she knew Ryouga hadn't been home in well over a year. There were also a few new books lying on his bed. The calendar on the wall, proudly displaying a set of 'martial arts umbrellas' was set to the wrong date. As in wrong date: month AND year.  
  
Ryouga started to unpack, no doubt thinking about exactly how much he was going to tell her (she doubted he'd actually tell her everything), when Nabiki noticed someone at the window. She spoke up, "Anyone you know, Ryouga-kun?"  
  
"Huh?" He looked just in time to see the girl set off one of the traps and get electrocuted. Moving quickly, he disarmed the wires leading to the window, and opened it up, retrieving the girl who was slumped limply on a tree branch, still faintly smoking. She had black hair, done up in two pigtails, and a red and black irregularly schemed bandanna, immediately reminiscent of Ryouga's own. Overcome by immediate curiosity, he checked to see if she had layered them, but found that it was purely ornamental, and that there was only one. She had on a plain red sweater and a brown overall type dress. What was shocking, though, was her rapid breathing and recovery from the shock, and her teeth. There were two prominent canines on her upper jaw.  
  
"Wa... What the...?" Ryouga gulped, got up, closed the window, came back, and hesitantly shook her shoulder a bit. "Miss?"  
  
"Ryouga..." The girl's eyes opened and focused on him. There was a very brief glimmer of fear, then anger, then surprise, before she lunged and embraced him. "Ryouga! Big brother!"  
  
"B... Big Brother? What are you talking about?"  
  
She instantly started to sniffle. "You're so mean... how could you forget about your little sister Yoiko?"  
  
Ryouga's lips moved but nothing came out.  
  
"It's no surprise you don't recognize me. You're never home anymore."  
  
"I... I have a little sister? How could I miss something like that?" Ryouga's mind raced. He had totally missed out on Shirokuro having a family. He hadn't even seen his parents in ...years. He looked the girl in his arms over. She couldn't be more than 10. Still, considering that his parents were gone more often than at home, it wasn't that much of a stretch to assume... to believe that this girl could be his sister. How else would she know his name, and know about the family curse, and have the teeth, and the family style of bandannas! His parents had never mentioned having another child, though. Then again, maybe, just maybe, this was only his half-sister. It didn't matter! He wasn't alone!  
  
"I have a sister!" Tears began to build up and drip down his cheeks, as he caught her in an embrace. He was careful not to crush her, but also knew, in his heart of hearts, that she could take it. Hibikis were tough like that. True enough, the girl didn't seem to mind the force he was hugging her with, which would probably have broken the rib cage of a normal adult. "I'm so happy!"  
  
"Me too, big brother!"  
  
"Yoiko, this is Tendo Nabiki." He let her go and motioned towards Nabiki, who seemed to be looking at the new girl suspiciously.   
  
Yoiko seemed nervous, and her hand shook a little when she waved. "Hello... Nabiki-san."  
  
"Isn't she polite?" Ryouga smiled, pride filling his chest. What a nice sister he had!  
  
"Nice to meet you, too... Yoiko." Nabiki gave a small, predatory smile. "Didn't you know about the traps?"  
  
Yokio big-sweated, but Ryouga didn't seem to notice.  
  
"I bet my big brother is really strong!" Yoiko wisely changed the subject. "Can you show me some of your Martial Arts moves, big brother? Please?"  
  
Ryouga laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Sure! I was going to show Nabiki that stuff anyway!"  
  
As the trio got up, and headed downstairs, Nabiki made a lunge for Yoiko's hair, but the younger girl was too quick, and caught her hand. Behind Ryouga's back, she smiled, and waved her finger back and forth, silently chiding the middle Tendo daughter. As always, Ryouga was oblivious, going on and on about how cute and nice it was to have a sibling. He waved to Akane, telling her that he'd be in the backyard, and she responded by saying she was making snacks for them. To his surprise, both Nabiki and Yoiko seemed to freeze up at that comment.  
  
He dismissed it immediately as a quirk, and led them into the backyard. It was spacious, and while not the size of the Tendo's, of course, it was more than large enough to accommodate an area for sparring and practicing. It was also a little brisk out, but the week as a whole hadn't been that cold for late autumn. Ryouga stood by himself, and did some stretching and limbering up, while Nabiki sat down on the porch with Yoiko. After a few seconds, he faced Nabiki, his hands on his hips. "So? How versed are you in Martial Arts, Nabiki?"  
  
"I have some cursory training in Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu." She let some pride seep through as she continued, "More than Kasumi. Less than Akane, of course."  
  
"Sounds all right." Ryouga nodded. "Where should I start?"  
  
"How about with your evaluation of your last little skirmish with Ranma?" Nabiki didn't need to see Yoiko, to know she was getting more nervous by the second. "Doesn't that sound good, Yoiko?"  
  
"Umm... sure," she said, weakly. "Whoever this Ranma guy is."  
  
"How did you know he was a guy?" Nabiki teased. 'Ranma,' after all, was one of those names either a boy or girl could have.  
  
"Ah." Ranma/Yoiko stammered. "Well, my big brother would never fight a girl!"  
  
"Quite right, Yoiko." Ryouga missed the nuance behind the exchange completely. "Well, when I came back from my training overseas, I'd expected Ranma would slack off with only his lazy father around. I wasn't surprised, then, when we met and exchanged words."  
  
Yoiko frowned slightly.  
  
"He goaded me about being more lost than usual, and a few other things. It was pretty much the same shallow drivel he always spouts when he wants to show everyone how much of a ...jerk he can be. I let the first few slide, because, in a way, I'd missed the ribbing, and I knew the idiot didn't know any better. But he kept at me and at me, until I yelled 'Saotome! Prepare to Die!' and attacked. I'd hoped that he would attack me, so I could get a good appraisal of his non-verbal offensive skills."  
  
Nabiki laughed a bit, but Yoiko wasn't smiling.  
  
"Instead, he let me attack. By the look in his eyes, I could see he was more than a little surprised when I tagged him on the first blow, and sent him flying back and into a wall." Ryouga chuckled softly. Of course, things hadn't quite happened that way. He'd only hit Ranma on the second try, but it was the spirit of the story as much as the letter of it. "I held back, not wanting to cripple him just yet, and let him get back up."  
  
"He made a snide comment not quite proper around my little sister or any lady, so I won't repeat it, and attacked. I went fast, keeping myself around his level, and compared his style to what I remembered of it. It was easy to see the influence that fighting Mousse and Ukyou had on him. His movements were..." Ryouga searched for the words. "Restrictive to anti-weapon techniques. This was useful for him when I tried, though not seriously, to attack with my belt sword and bandannas, but it hindered him in open handed and close quarters combat. By now, in all likeliness, he's started to narrow the gap. His father, though as much of a coward and oaf as his son, would be quick to correct this."  
  
Yoiko grudgingly agreed at that. Though Genma hadn't explained it, he had significantly increased the speed and power behind his blows, even though it tired him out sooner, in their training exercises. It was a subtle shift from how Ranma's father normally sparred with his son. Virtually no amount of training would much narrow the endurance gap between Ryouga and himself, but speed and strength he could work on in the time he had.  
  
"As the fight continued, another thing became obvious. Ranma's endurance and stamina had actually somewhat decreased from before. He's obviously grown complacent fighting his father, Mousse, Kuno and Ukyou, who are all themselves lacking in that department. I can only assume that most of his fights end before he really even breaks a sweat. The difference in raw strength between us, again, has widened significantly. Even when I allowed him to hit me repeatedly with his somewhat superior version of the Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken, I barely felt the blows. As it stands, aside from pressure points and attempted lethal blows, he has no way of hurting me at all with his bare hands. This, coupled with his comparatively limited repertoire of special techniques and my expanded knowledge of different styles, and familiarity with his own, will be his biggest personal hurtle to overcome."  
  
"And his speed?" Yoiko broached.  
  
"He's still damn fast, I'll give him that," Ryouga admitted. "He's always been slightly faster than me, because I'm a little larger and more geared towards raw hitting power. I suspect that by the next time we fight, he'll either be on par with my new speed, or have exceeded it. However, that advantage won't help him in a fight if he can't hurt me, overpower me, or fight at full power as long as I can."  
  
"I wouldn't underestimate him," Yoiko warned.  
  
"I'm not," Ryouga assured her, and turned back to Nabiki. "Well? More?"  
  
"Very interesting, Ryouga-kun. And your opinion of Ranma personally?"  
  
"As a fighter, or as a human being?"  
  
"Both."  
  
"As a fighter he's formidable. In keeping with his training, and the doctrines of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, he's extremely agile and versatile, creative and opportunistic. He finds a weakness, and exploits it... often ruthlessly, from what I've observed and heard of him. While an excellent martial artist, as a human being I find him lacking. His so called 'honor' is almost non existent, in my humble opinion." Ryouga noticed Yoiko getting a bit anxious and decided to explain himself. "He promises to keep secrets, and yet he takes every opportunity to indirectly expose them. He's untrustworthy. Additionally, perhaps as part of his upbringing and training, he's also rude, short sighted, selfish, a glutton...."  
  
"At least he isn't a pig," Yoiko blurted out. Ryouga flinched, noticeably, and Nabiki smiled.  
  
"You're digging your own grave," The middle Tendo daughter whispered. "It's really very entertaining."  
  
"Shut up," Yoiko whispered back, then turned to Ryouga. "Please, big brother, continue!"  
  
"He's more animal than man in some ways. And the way he flaunts his curse to get what he wants, and to manipulate people is disgusting! True, I made a mistake. Not a night, not a day goes by that I don't loathe myself for what I did, and for what I almost kept doing. Ranma, however, seems to have no remorse for his actions, and his indecision. He goads others into fighting him, and then denies blame. He toys with Kuno, alternating encouraging him to hit on his female form, and then bashing his face in. He mocks Akane, mercilessly exploiting even the smallest fault, and never... NEVER does he show remorse. He has no concept of right and wrong... only what he wants, or does not want. He's a Prima Dona and a self absorbed egoist."  
  
"Interesting. I agree with a lot of that Ryouga-kun. He has bad manners, too," Nabiki pointed out, enjoying the moment. She could tell by the look on Ranma's face that he was about to explode and reveal himself to the clueless lost boy. Only a little push more was needed. And when Ranma did, he'd certainly get a sound pounding, which he had coming with such a stupid trick. How long did he think Ryouga would fall for that whole Yoiko thing? Besides, it was the height of rudeness.   
  
Ryouga nodded, agreeing with her comment. "So I've heard."  
  
"He also runs around topless at home in his girl form. No modesty. No modesty at all."  
  
"That sick bastard! ...Pardon my language, Yoiko."  
  
"And he snores like a chainsaw."  
  
"Yeah! That night I snuck in to fight him; he was really tearing it up! Thrashes around like a scared rabbit, too."  
  
"Probably nightmares about losing his masculinity!"  
  
Ryouga laughed. "Probably!"  
  
Yoiko spoke through gritted teeth. "So, big brother, how about showing us some of these so called 'special techniques,' hmm?"   
  
"Oh." He scratched behind his ear. "Right. Well, first..."  
  
"Come and get it!" Akane walked out, carrying a tray of 'crackers.'  
  
"Why are they green?" Nabiki quirked an eyebrow, and regarded the plate like one would an angry cobra.  
  
"They're my own special recipe!" Akane enthused.  
  
"Hey, crackers! I'm starving!" Ryouga didn't feel like mentioning that he was pretty much always hungry. Taking one, he saw that Yoiko was giving the food a wide berth. "Yoiko, why don't you have one? Akane here is a guest, and it's not polite to refuse the food she so graciously made for us."  
  
"Says you. I don't feel like heartburn today, thank you kindly."  
  
"Yoiko." Ryouga's tone became stern. Akane suddenly noticed the girl for the first time, and her eyes narrowed in recognition.  
  
"Are you kidding?" Yoiko waved off the offering with vigor. "It looks like pieces of cement with green moss growing on it! Can't that tomboy girlfriend of yours cook?"  
  
"You're being... very rude, little sister. Very rude." He took a step towards her. "Say you're sorry, Yoiko."  
  
Yoiko backed up a little, looked around, and jumped up and over the fence. Ryouga watched her go with a mixture of fear and shock, and tensed to follow, when his legs simply gave out, and he fell to his knees. Without noticing, he dropping the crackers, and squeezed his eyes shut. "What have I... done? Yoiko... I'm sorry..."  
  
"Ryouga, calm down. She'll be back." Akane put the tray down and went over to try and get that green color out of his aura. "You just kind of scared her."   
  
"You don't understand." He looked at her, at both Tendo sisters. "She'll be lost... I'll never see her again... I... I've screwed up... Just when I find someone... I chase them away. I'm such an idiot! Wait! Akane, Nabiki... could you... could you find her for me? Bring her back? I'll do anything... I've got money..."  
  
"She wasn't..." Nabiki began, and then thought again about telling him the truth. He might not take it well - in fact, it would've been wiser, in hindsight, if she had simply exposed Ranma right off the bat, instead of playing around. The Lost Boy seemed genuinely hurt, bordering on devastated, by 'losing' the sister he had just met. Unsure, both of the situation, and herself, she slowly crept over, and draped her arm over his broad shoulders, which were vibrating with tension and every intake of breath. Akane looked at her, then, almost with amazement, and gave a weak smile.  
  
'Wonderful,' Nabiki thought, sharply. 'For once, this really is all Ranma's fault!'  
  
Helping him to his feet, and no longer eager to see him show off his techniques so she could decide whether to rig things in Ranma's favor or not, she started to lead him inside, when Yoiko jumped over the wall again and into the yard, carrying one of the puppies. The phone inside rung, but Ryouga ignored it and ran over to Yoiko, catching her in a bear hug like embrace, while the puppy jumped out of her arms, saving him or herself.   
  
Ryouga was crying, and held her even tighter. "I'm so, so sorry, Yoiko! I didn't mean to yell at you; it's just that I want you to have better manners, like a real lady! I want things to be better for you than they were for me!"  
  
"Um... ok! Ok!" The near crushed girl gasped.  
  
"Ryouga, phone!" Akane walked out with a wireless phone in hand. "It's your father."  
  
"Thanks." He took the phone, let go of Yoiko, and held it to his ear. "Yeah. Hi, Dad - yes, that was a real girl. No! Yeah. Lost her around where? No... haven't seen her, but I'll keep an eye out, like usual. Oh, and I ran into Yoiko, too. ...You know, Yoiko. My sister?"  
  
Yoiko gulped.   
  
Akane bit her lip.  
  
Nabiki noticed the dogs had fled to the safety of the house and that Shirokuro was watching things unfold with the canine version of a look of trepidation, while slowly nudging the back door closed. ...Smart Dog.  
  
"You... don't... have a daughter? No, I'm sure mom wouldn't..." Ryouga looked at Yoiko again, presumably looking for features they didn't have in common. The fangs were, after all, from his mother's side.... He thought.   
  
"Hey, pal." Ranma pulled off the wig, and took out the fake set of fangs. "Get a clue, huh?"  
  
"I'll... talk to you later... dad." Ryouga's eyes flashed, and the phone in his hands crushed like so much tissue paper. He was literally shaking with rage. "It was... Ranma... RANMA!! You won't live to see our duel. You won't even live to see the sun set today."  
  
"Hold on a sec, buddy!" Ranma held up his hands.  
  
"You wanted to spy on me.... you wanted to toy with me?!" The snarl on his lips grew, exposing fully his larger than normal canine teeth. "Damn you Ranma! Damn you to hell!!"  
  
Ranma looked from Ryouga to Akane, to Nabiki, both of which were backing off. From the look in their eyes, he wasn't exactly about to get either of their support in this. Silently cursing, he threw aside the last of his disguise, rallied his self-confidence, balled his fists, and took a fighting stance. He'd trained damn hard the last week, and he was the best he'd ever been. Even if he was in girl form, it was time to perform. Time to show them that Saotome Ranma wasn't to be trifled with and mocked. He felt a rush as his Battle Aura manifested around him, snapping to life out of thin air, sheathing him in power.  
  
Then, Ryouga's aura began to appear.  
  
The first signs took the form of a heaviness in the air, heavy Ki, pushing at Ranma's shoulders and knees, and flattening the grass around the Lost Boy for two or three meters. Ryouga was crouched, snarling, his arms crossed in front of him, when barely visible white crackles of electricity began to dance from his faintly glowing body to the ground, scorching the crushed grass as it hit. The faint glow manifested, then disappeared, manifested a little more, disappeared, and finally exploded like an overloaded light bulb.   
  
The flash was almost blinding, and when it cleared, a heartbeat later, Ryouga was engulfed in an inferno of red, black, and white fire, dancing up into the air like ethereal claws reaching for the heavens. Air was kicked up, and as pieces of paper and grass neared the pyre, they caught fire and burned, even as they lazily swirled around the lost boy, paying homage and penance to his released power. Never before had Ranma seen him this angry, or manifesting this much battle aura.  
  
'He's a monster!' Ranma blinked, hoping that what he was seeing was some kind of mirage. Calming himself, he was only consoled by the fact that, unlike Happosai, Ryouga couldn't project his aura, though the intensity was eerily similar in that both were beyond Ranma's experience with the phenomenon. The flames seemed to recede a bit, as Ryouga lowered his arms and gained more control, until they burned only a few inches from his body, now tightly under control.  
  
Ranma moved, when he saw Ryouga's eyes finally focus on him totally, and still caught the edge of the heel kick to the abdomen. The world became blurry for a second, and he was thankful that he'd had his Ki to cushion the blow, or else it might have blown his (her) kidneys out through his back. As it was, he was damn stunned, and crashing into the wall didn't do anything to help. The pigtailed boy-turned-girl didn't see the next blow coming, but he knew it was, and focused on moving to the left. Blurring from the motion, Ranma barely avoided an axe chop that shattered the wall behind him into so much dust and gravel.   
  
'I need time to think! Need time!' Ranma's mind raced, desperate, as Ryouga's eyes again fell on him. His elbow proved to only be a fake, and when Ranma dodged it by a hairsbreadth, the Lost Boy's knee connected with Ranma's sternum, knocking the wind out of his transformed female body, and sending him into the air. The pigtailed boy/girl got only a few inches skywards, when a backhand intercepted him and send him screaming like a misguided rocket into the ground, tearing a long furrow into the ground.  
  
"Ryouga! STOP!"  
  
"Damn it! You're going to kill him!"  
  
Ryouga skip-jumped over to where Ranma lay, bruised, beaten and bloody, his head lolled off to the side slightly, a swelling eye and bloody lower lip marring the otherwise good looks of his female form. His clothes were torn and dirty as Ryouga lifted him by what was left of his collar, straight armed, and shook the body slightly. Ranma blinked, and slowly came to, his vision messed up by his left eye. He reached up, trying to pry Ryouga's fingers lose from his shirt, but found it impossible - it was like trying to bend a vice made out of inches of tempered steel. With his last bit of energy, Ranma's feet blurred in a version of his Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken, striking Ryouga's chest and midriff hundreds of times in the span of a few seconds. None of the blows seemed to even warrant the Lost Boy's attention.  
  
A simple heat butt had Ranma seeing a miniature version of the cosmos.  
  
"Having fun, Saotome? Was it worth it?" He shook Ranma again, harder this time. "Was it worth it? Answer me, you bastard! Because it'll be the last thing you ever say... to anyone!!"  
  
"Freeze!"  
  
"Put the lady down NOW!"  
  
Ryouga's eyes moved to two police officers that had just left their car, as it was still rumbling, the engine left on. They both had pistols drawn, the usual .38 caliber revolver, aimed at him, and only then did he notice that the streets were almost deserted. Had he been in possession of a clearer head, just then, he would have realized what the situation appeared to be: a large, angry and dangerous looking man holding a beaten and battered woman up like a rag doll, shaking and yelling at her. As it was, he saw the guns and dismissed them as any threat. They were aiming at his chest. His Tekimen Kongou Gishu made him effectively immune to being shot there, and at this range he could probably dodge the low powered bullets if he had to.   
  
Who was he to be concerned about the Law, anyway? Hadn't this always been the plan? Killing was against the law, so he'd end up facing the police sooner or later. What did he have to lose at this point in his life?  
  
"You're more trouble than you're worth Saotome." With a sneer, he dismissed the officers and faced Ranma, leaning in closer. "I hate you, do you know that?"  
  
Ranma spat something unintelligible, and Ryouga gave him another hard shake. "How do you like being toyed with, huh?" The lost boy then got ready to finish the job with a tried and true uppercut-to-the-sky. The final blow. "Wait for me in Hell, Ranma!"  
  
Gunshots.  
  
'They actually shot at me? Damnit...' It was Ryouga's experience that most Japanese officers would much sooner run at an offender with their baton out and whistle blowing. Ryouga turned, intending to take the bullets to the chest and discourage the two unusually aggressive police from interfering. It had worked before, but when the three rounds hit, instead of feeling a hard, but not piercing impact, he felt almost nothing. The impact was wrong. Not like before at all. Surprised and puzzled by this, when Ryouga looked down at his torso, he saw three red stains on his nice yellow shirt that Ukyou had given... him.   
  
The pieces instantly fell into place, but it was too late to do anything about it. His carefully controlled aura faded like a blown out candle, and his grip on Ranma's collar disappeared. He heard some shouting - Nabiki's voice mixed with Akane's, and the police yelling something. He was still on his feet, and stumbled forward a little, when another three dull thuds, almost knocked him back and off his feet. Again, he analyzed the unique feeling, amid the growing dizziness. Running his hand down his face, and by his neck, he felt a spurt of wetness, and was distantly glad it was too warm to trigger his curse.  
  
He blinked a few times, and felt another of the odd feelings just under his shoulder, as a fast blur hit the two things in the distance. Suddenly thirsty, he licked his lips and tasted coppery liquid that he finally connected with blood. It wasn't refreshing. He wanted some ice water, not over his head mind you, which would set off his curse, but some ice water in a nice glass. Maybe he should go to the kitchen and get some? With a straw - maybe a curly straw, like his mother used to give him. Blinking again, he found himself swaying a bit, falling out of someone's grip, and hitting the ground. It was softer than his previous experiences with concrete. Looking up, he saw brown hair and brown eyes: Nabiki. She seemed to be saying something, probably complaining about all the blood on her nice money-green shirt.  
  
Gods, what a headache he had.  
  
Author's Notes  
  
The storyline is most closely following the manga, but I'm not shy to dip into the anime as a supplement. I can imagine people saying right off the bat that Ryouga's too powerful here - keep in mind the months of intense training and wandering he's gone through, and his renewed focus on beating Ranma for the sake of beating Ranma. This Ryouga is both less obsessive, less naive, and more willing to think things through, because of his greater experience, and his 'getting over' and recognition of his infatuation with Akane relatively early in the series.   
  
Without her being the prime focus of his world, this Ryouga has become more like he initially was rather than what he eventually became. The same Ryouga who picked up his Iron Cloth techniques, weapons, etc... on his own, between chasing Ranma into China, and appearing in Nerima maybe a year or two later (or much less, if you subscribe to Genma taking Ranma straight to Jyusenkyou in China, getting cursed, and being back in Japan just a few weeks later). He also recognizes things more as they are - don't expect him to attack Ranma out of the blue yelling, 'Apologize to Akane right now!' He is, for all intents and purposes, Ryouga before Akane kissed his pig form.  
  
This mentality, combined with his training and experience makes him extremely formidable, though it should be noted that Ranma himself is rapidly improving and starting to catch up - Ryouga knows this, and expects it almost eagerly. In earlier versions of this chapter, a rough chart was - here - with estimations of relative character strength and the like. In this, version 1.4, I've decided to move the chart to the chapter just after the Final Duel (Chapter 14) wherein I'll make a more exact version of it for those who are interested in such things. Though it is important to remember that more than fighting statistics decide who wins and loses, and who lives and dies.   
  
The other potential bone of contention is probably how I portrayed Ryouga's intelligence and his academic standing. He never seems to go to school, and never even gives it much thought beyond being there to better know Akane. Now, either he's dismissed academics altogether, or he studies by himself. Given a non-Saotome family, even if they are absentee, I'd figure his parents would encourage the latter. His life divided then between martial arts, and his studies, and having pretty much NO knowledge of what he was supposed to learn in class... and you see how I got what I did. Those who remark to Ryouga's stupidity, I point to this: He somehow tracked Ranma all the way to the exact right part of China, survives on his own, tracked Ranma back all the way to the exact school he was attending, and numerous other things. It's largely his obsession with Akane, and his naiveté, coupled with his curses (which he cannot help) that make him foolish in the manga (anime Ryouga is far more comic in nature). Again, before his infatuation and eventual listless love with Akane, he seemed to be of above average intelligence, IMHO.  
  
As my mother always says, there's a difference between book smarts and common sense. On the occasions Ryouga's academic standing have been brought up, though never revealed fully, he proved a dedicated student and one willing to study. His personal self-doubt, however, and constant problems with Happosai and Ranma in regards to Akane, precluded any verification of where he would, or would not stand. So, using my Writer's License (tm) to solve the issue in a manner befitting my mad schemes. 


	7. Learning Curve part 7

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part VII (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner  
  
Ryouga woke up to the greeting of a white tiled ceiling. Without thinking, he said the inevitable: "Where the hell am I now?!" And instantly regretted it.  
  
A hospital. Of course.   
  
Trying to lean to his side, he found himself restrained by what looked to be leather straps on his arms and across his chest, keeping him bed-bound. Smiling to himself, he flexed his muscles, expecting the straps to rip apart like so much angel hair pasta. Oddly, the restraints held, so he increased the power behind his attempt to escape. He'd ripped though steel wire once - how were these little leather things keeping him down? Not one to give up, and possessed of a remarkable stubbornness, Ryouga snarled, and increased the intensity of his struggles.  
  
Then, the door opened.  
  
"Up and about already, are ya' pig boy?" Ranma walked in, uninjured, and in his typical attire, one arm behind his back.  
  
"Ranma! What the hell are you doing here? Come to attack me while I was out cold, are you?"  
  
"Turnabout would be fair play, P-chan." Ranma's other hand came forward, wielding a small water pistol. "Say please, and maybe I'll let you go."  
  
"Never, damn you!"  
  
"Beg, Ryouga. Say 'please Ranma, please let me go.'"  
  
"I've got a better idea. Why don't you go pimp yourself out to street people? Give a little back to society for a change?"  
  
Ranma laughed, mirthlessly. "Oh well. I guess you'll have to stew for a little while longer, then. I hear you can survive without water for more than a week - I believe I'd like to test that. Oh, and I'll say 'hi' to Uuchan for you, ok?"  
  
"What? What the Hell are you talking about?" Ryouga strained against the restraints until his muscles threatened to tear. Ranma just chuckled slowly, pivoted, and left, turning off the lights behind him. Darkness swallowed up the Lost Boy, but it was hours before he finally stopped trying to break free. Hours slowly passed and became days, tearing away at Ryouga's eyes and mind. Sometimes, he'd hear voices - soft voices, like a choir of angels, just out of reach and just indistinct enough to be impossible to pin down. Sometimes, the voices would laugh.   
  
The laughter wouldn't be directed at anything in particular, it would simply be the hard, crass, mocking laughter of his childhood. Impossible to tell whom it was directed at in theory, but always at himself in practice. He'd come to hate and fear the sound, and as it droned on, hour after hour, his only company in the dark hell to which he was confined, Ryouga's rage boiled, as if hatred alone could reach out and do harm to those who would mock and destroy his happiness.  
  
When his fear began to show, that's when the boulders came.   
  
His dreams had been devoid of them for months, but now they came again, with greater ferocity and a vengeance born of a hundred thousand Bakusai Tenketsu blasts, as if every ounce of rock and stone and silica that he'd ever destroyed was coming back to take a piece of his hide with them into oblivion. And when he lay there, broken and bloody, his voice barely able to curse over split lips and broken jaw, they came again for an encore performance, beating battered flesh into the consistency of pulp, and broken bone into splinters that tore through muscles and skin. Then, when the dreams passed, the darkness greeted him with pangs of hunger, and a mouth so dry and parched for lack of water that he could barely move his lips without them cracking and leaking acid blood. His lungs refused to respond, and his arms and legs had long since stopped trying to respond.  
  
How long had he been here?  
  
It felt like months.   
  
It felt like years.  
  
It felt like an eternity.  
  
Then, Ranma came back and turned on the lights. He looked the same: calm and mocking as always, and he again flaunted the little yellow water pistol, promising release. Promising freedom. He didn't say anything, immediately, instead opting to slowly walk around the bed and let Ryouga wait another few seconds longer than necessary. Finally, he spoke, "Can you understand me, P-chan? You still with us, piggie?"  
  
Ryouga's lips couldn't move, but he managed to nod his head, ever so slightly.  
  
"Good. Now, just say 'please' and I'll give it to you. I'll let you be free. Won't that be nice?"  
  
Ryouga didn't move.  
  
"Come on, pig boy. Say it. Say it! Is your pride really worth your life? Your worthless, lonely, forgotten life?"  
  
Ryouga's lips moved a millimeter, and a faint wisp of air left his mouth, in a silent: "Yes."  
  
"You'll change your tone soon enough, lost boy." Ranma sneered, but paused before leaving. His hand reached over to the light switch, and Ryouga almost... almost broke right then and there. When Ranma's hand passed over the switch, instead of being plunged into darkness, the lights became small suns, glaring down with seemingly limitless power. As Ranma closed the door behind him, Ryouga screwed his eyes shut, searching for the darkness and the shade, but the light slowly burnt through the frail flesh of his eyelids, and as the walls themselves seemed to glow from the heat, the room like a tiny nuclear furnace, Ryouga realized, finally, that there was no escape. There was no shade.  
  
Every instant of time quickly became an individual exercise in agony so intense, so overwhelming, the shock alone would have, in a kinder universe, killed him. Instead, he lived while slowly dying one layer of skin at a time. The light sheared away his eyes, cooked his body, and burnt away his soul. The laughter pounced on him again, like a carrion eater, and now, truly sightless, he could almost make out the voices. His parents, Ranma, Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse, Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi... one by one, they seemed to come into focus, like an endless parade of voices just outside the door. Was that it? A party?   
  
Then the pain was everywhere - in every crevice and recess of his mind. Every fold and neuron, suffused with boiling, bubbling, burning pain. Ryouga clung to the hope, to the prayer, that eventually maybe, just maybe, the dead could again die, and he'd finally know something, anything, but the waves of agony that consumed him, over and over again, like a rising tornado. He felt every organ and every tiny bit of tissue melt into a bloody black soup around him. He could feel his brain, now slick and molten, slouching out of his ears, and down his face from the sockets that used to have eyes. The slightest movement, to breathe, to twitch, became an exercise in joint rending torment. And it kept building higher and higher until Ryouga forgot what it was like not to be drowned in pure, damned anguish.  
  
How was it... how was it that a skeleton could feel pain?  
  
Then, the lights faded into a comfortable haze.  
  
"Whew! It smells like Pork Fried Rice in here, P-chan! What a mess!"  
  
Ranma.  
  
"You don't have to even say it, you know. Just think it. It'll set you free."  
  
What was left of the man named Ryouga Hibiki quivered, like a slaughtered animal on a skewer over a fire pit. Amazingly, even though he was still blind, Ryouga felt tears on what was left of his cheeks and realized he was crying as his whole body convulsed uncontrollably. His pride was long gone, burned away by punishment and pain. The sad truth was that he'd have done anything - kill a thousand innocent people, twist Nabiki and Akane and Ukyou and Shampoo and Kasumi into bloody marionettes, murder his family... he'd have done anything to end the hurt. How long had he been here? At one point, he'd hoped that he'd die of old age before the pain stopped. No. His pride was the last thing on Ryouga Hibiki's mind.  
  
Ranma seemed very pleased. "I'm glad you came around, P-chan."  
  
The feeling of water cascading over his body was like a gift from the heavens. It brought an end to suffering, a release from prison... and the loss of his human body. But, right now, that was such a small price to pay. Unsteady on his hooves, Buta-Ryouga blinked, and found that he could see. Ranma towered over him like a monolith, eyes glowing. Slowly, his lips parted into a mouthful of blades, like a shark's dream. "I'm so glad you failed."  
  
And then, Ryouga realized he'd well and truly lost the only thing he still had.  
  
His Humanity.  
  
He'd lost in the end, just like he always did.  
  
***  
  
'NOO!!!!!!'  
  
Something snapped as his voice barely made it past his lips, and out of the haze of his vision, Ryouga saw his hand - but not bone with scraps of flesh, not the hoof of a damned animal, but a normal human hand, rough and calloused. And it was shaking, almost uncontrollably. Suddenly very cold and very scared, Ryouga looked around him. It was a white room, a hospital room, like before, except a little larger. An instant of panic came and passed in a heartbeat, when Ryouga noticed the broken leather strap that had been holding down his right arm. He felt sore, and weak, and ...low. Lower than he'd felt in what seemed like a lifetime. His throat heaved, and he felt like he was about to vomit, but nothing came up, so he gasped a few times, like a fish, before saliva wetted his mouth again, and he felt himself slowly recover.  
  
Rolling over, away from the door, looking for the rays of light that seemed to be coming in through a window, he saw a table, and a mass of brown hair. Blinking a few times to get the haze out of his vision, he recognized the person lying, asleep, at the desk. Pulling himself up, he reached out and pulled at her dress, his voice still hesitant to leave his throat, but trying none-the-less. "Hey. Nabiki. Wake up."  
  
She stirred slowly, and went back to sleep.  
  
Ryouga took a deep breath and spoke a little more loudly and clearly, "Look! A thousand yen!"  
  
"What? A thousand yen? Where?!" Nabiki was instantly alert and looking around frantically. "It's mine! I dropped it!"  
  
Ryouga coughed to get her attention. "So... it does run in the family, huh?"  
  
She faced him, and gasped. "You're awake!"  
  
Ryouga looked back and forth, as if unsure. "I think I am, yeah. What happened? Where the hell am I?"  
  
She smiled a bit. "This is the University of Tokyo Hospital."  
  
"I hate hospitals," he replied, plainly, and moved to stand up. Nabiki, however, intercepted him and pushed him back with both hands, stopping his forward momentum.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" She pushed again, on his good shoulder, and he allowed himself to lie back down while propped up with an elbow. "Besides, you've already paid for all this stuff off your family's health insurance. I had no idea it was so comprehensive."  
  
"For my lifestyle?" Ryouga dismissed it. "It doesn't even cover being buried alive under tons of rock."  
  
An inquisitive Tendo eyebrow rose at that, but she sat on the edge of the bed to preclude any more attempted escapes. He still had an intravenous feed into his left arm, and his features were still somewhat pale. Then again, he had lost a lot of blood, especially from the hole that had torn through his trachea and almost flooded his lungs. Had it healed already? Ranma had mentioned, when he saw that Ryouga was in a coma, that he was 'just healing.' Nabiki had almost slapped him across the face then and there. Saotome had only taken a few days to heal most of his wounds, but at that time he'd still been bandaged up, and his arm in a somewhat unnecessary splint, so she held back. If a small flicker of concern had ever been in Ranma's eyes, he hid it like a master.  
  
Later, perhaps sensing her concern for the lost boy, her father had explained that Ryouga was healing, as he subconsciously used his Ki to knit together damaged skin and muscle. Still, to her at least, the fact that Ranma had been right was no excuse for being so callous about it, seeing as none of this would have happened if he hadn't gotten involved. The pigtailed boy had taken the 'opportunity' to train even harder than before, this time with Master Happosai, and both his Fathers, almost non-stop. Meanwhile, his rival had languished in the hospital, deep in the deepest of sleep.   
  
His recovery had, indeed, been hailed as a medical mystery, and Dr. Tofu had arrived the day after to see things for himself, claiming (erroneously) to be the family doctor at her request. Shampoo and Ukyou had followed, the former somewhat reserved and angry, and the latter holding back tears and hiding behind a macho façade. They both brought flowers, though Ryouga wasn't much of a plant lover as far as she knew, but both girls also worked every day, so Nabiki decided she could most easily make the trip to the Hospital and check up on the Lost Boy. They hadn't even been able to contact his parents, because no one knew even if any of them had access to a phone in the first place.   
  
That, and in a way, she blamed herself, too. She'd let Ranma play at being Hibiki Yoiko, the lost boy's little sister, because it was kind of funny. And it had been, up to and until Ryouga found out, attacked Ranma-chan, and ended up getting shot down by police who probably thought he was a rapist or something. It was damn fortunate that Akane had acted when she did, and tackled both police officers, or they probably would have kept firing until Ryouga was nothing but a corpse stumbling around on legs that outright refused to give out beneath him. If she had just exposed Ranma right off the bat, or malleted him, or had Ryouga just throw him out then and there, none of this would have happened. It was a guilt she wasn't accustomed to and a helplessness she hadn't felt since her mother had been in this same hospital, years ago.  
  
"So." She looked at the shroud of bandages slung across his left shoulder, covering the wound there, and onto his chest. "How do you feel, Hibiki?"  
  
"Like I've been shot seven times, Tendo." He shook his head a bit, a little amused. "It still hurts a little. But I'll be good to fight in a day or two, I think."  
  
"Not going to let almost dying keep you down, huh?" She said with enough sarcasm that even he couldn't miss it.   
  
"I won't lie about it... this one was pretty bad." Ryouga's eyes seemed far off for a second, but they refocused quickly on the here and now. "Wait. The bullets aren't still... inside me, are they?"  
  
"Nope." Nabiki reached over to the table, and handed him a small vial with seven crumpled little metal objects inside. Ryouga took the vial, carefully, and turned it in his hand, slowly examining every one of the spent bullets like it was a jewel, unique in the entire universe. In a weird way, Nabiki supposed, they were. Each was slightly different from the others, because of its impact on different parts of his body, and the damage each had done to him. When they brought him in, they weren't expecting him to live. Now, less than a week later, he was almost normal.  
  
Almost up to fighting par, too, if his self-diagnostic was accurate. Ranma was training like his life depended on it, but they all knew he had a long way to go before he was ready for the final duel between the two of them. But, watching him, Nabiki realized how paltry and wasteful it all was. Everything. The duel, the bread feud, the P-chan debacle, the teasing, the betting... it was all so short sighted and stupid. Yet, at the same time, it was their drive and their focus. She knew Ryouga had nothing else to cling to but his rivalry with and his hatred of Ranma, and the pig-tailed boy's pride wouldn't let him accept any kind of loss in the field of Martial Arts. One man's desperation, and another man's pride, building and building like a house of cards before the inevitable collapse... would one of them lie dead when everything was said and done?  
  
And what part had she played in that tragic outcome?  
  
"I recognize this one," Ryouga spoke up, and pointed to one of the bullets, the second from the top. "Grazed my heart. I could feel it. And this one... my neck..."  
  
Nabiki quickly took the vial from his open palm, and put it back down on the desk, next to her homework. "Don't worry about that, ok? Just concentrate on getting better."  
  
Ryouga leaned back, and looked up at the ceiling. "I hate this place. I want to leave."  
  
"Give it a chance, Ryouga-kun. The food's pretty good." She didn't lie. It wasn't that bad, and maybe after she gave her a call, Kasumi might bring something over to further convince him to stay in bed for another few days. She also made a mental note to make sure Akane didn't bring ANYTHING that could be hidden on her person under the guise of being 'food.'  
  
"Was it the drugs?" Ryouga whispered to himself. That dream had been so real. He could still feel the pain, distantly now, and hear the voices, and see Ranma...  
  
"You'll be happy to know that no one's pressing charges," Nabiki continued, not hearing what he had just said. Seeing that he wasn't quite paying attention, she nudged his leg, and he looked at her. "Are you listening to me, Hibiki, or daydreaming?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"No one's pressing charges. Seeing as you survived, the police don't like to think about the prospect of being sued, especially since Ranma said it was a 'duel' between two martial artists." Nabiki didn't quite like the look that the mention of Saotome Ranma got from him. Ranma, however, had been more than eager to brush off any charges, both because it was mostly his fault, because he wanted to fight Ryouga again sometime in the future, and something about the 'martial artist's code.'  
  
"Good." Ryouga left it at that.  
  
Taking notice of his discomfort at being beholden to Ranma for anything, Nabiki got up. "I better go and make some calls. Shampoo and Ukyou should be happy you're up and about again."  
  
As she headed towards the door, Ryouga suddenly bolted upright. "Wait!"  
  
Nabiki paused, surprised, her hand near the doorknob.  
  
"I mean... I don't think I could quite take Shampoo glomping me right now." He undid a clenched fist. Why did being alone in this room scare him? "How about I, um... help you with your homework or something... I'm not very good at math, but I know a lot of English..."  
  
Nabiki seemed to waver, but walked over, a half smile on her lips. "Ok. Sure. I haven't gotten much of it done anyway."  
  
"Great!" Ryouga relaxed noticeably, and let out a deep sigh as he went back to lying on his back on the bed. He could feel his strength returning, little by little, even as Nabiki read off her English assignment, and listened as he off handedly corrected the occasional mispronunciation or grammatical error. Inwardly, he was torn between making his escape sometime at night (when he was more confident that his speed and strength would be close to normal by then) or staying in this place a day or two longer.  
  
He hadn't been exaggerating when he said that he hated hospitals. While he was more than accustomed to being alone for months at a time, it was always worse being alone in a crowd. The impersonality of hospitals, coupled with the sterile, standoffish atmosphere, and the unnatural surroundings and sounds made him uncontrollably jumpy, like when he'd first struck out (gotten lost) on his own, back when he was six, and the police had tried to take him to an orphanage. He'd ended up fighting them off and making a break for it. It had been a terrible experience in a life full of terrible experiences, but at least then they hadn't shot at him.   
  
And, he was loath to admit it; he didn't want to be alone in here. He'd panicked when Nabiki had been about to leave, and in his mind's eye, about to turn off the light, plunging him into darkness. It was a strange sensation, the fear, and one he hadn't known in a long time. True, there had always been the fear of insecurity, of fitting in, of being accepted, which were all warranted... but fear of something so abstract and childish as being alone, or in the dark, was a totally alien and foreign concept. He'd had to get over those sort of things when he was knee-high. It was then that he resolved himself - Hibiki Ryouga had to stay here, if for no other purpose than to conquer and crush this small handicap. Then, and only then, would he allow himself to get lost for a week or two, deep in the wilderness, where his heart had always been free to roam. Yes, the wilderness it was: one that was far away from childish, jealous, thoughtless rivals, and city noises and machines.   
  
Or would that just be running away again?   
  
More cowardice.  
  
Afraid of people.   
  
Afraid of women.   
  
Afraid of rejection.   
  
Afraid of water.   
  
Afraid of being alone... forever...  
  
"Damn it all," he hissed under his breath.  
  
***  
  
The Tendo Dojo.  
  
To quote the old adage that great age begets great patience was to ignore the example that was Happosai. And, while the founder of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu prided himself on his perceptive, and voyeuristic, abilities, he was not one to wait long for things he wanted, be they panties, jewels, magical artifacts, or simple answers. Things were growing more and more intense, he'd heard, between Ranma and another boy named Hibiki, of whom Happosai had never seen. Ranma was also, he noted, getting more persistent in his attacks on the old master, repeatedly goading him into unleashing his all-powerful final attack, the one he had sealed away for years and subsequently forgotten about. The first couple of times, Happosai dismissed it, simply content to observe how the last week and a half's hard training had brought the boy to new peaks of speed, strength, and technique.   
  
Then, Happosai found Ranma practicing the dread Happo Dai Karin.  
  
Silent like a ghost, the old master watched as the pride and joy, the future of his school, reached behind him, concentrated until perspiration dripped from his brow, and drew forth the Happo Dai Karin. It was a small one, true, little more than a cherry bomb and the effort he had put into retrieving it was phenomenal, but the simple fact that the boy had picked up on the operation of an advanced technique like the Final Attack almost left Happosai speechless. Had the boy only respect for his elders, he'd be a true disciple of Anything Goes, and a true credit to his Master and his Art.   
  
He sat, in the shadows, and watched as Soun and Genma entered the dojo, warmed up, and helped their future heir train. Soun was hard pressed to keep up with the two Saotomes in his old samurai armor, and his style was rusty and neglected. While Genma, his old rival, was only slightly below the peak he had been at when he was half his age, the elder Saotome remained a force to be reckoned with. His endurance was formidable, his already impressive strength and speed tempered by years of experience, and like in their youth, the two men attacked as a seamless unit, each covering the movements and weaknesses of the other. Ranma received them with aplomb, though already partially worn out from drawing the power of the Happo Dai Karin, and fought them both to a standstill. As his two elders moved around for another charge, Ranma's arms became near blurs, even to the trained senses of Happosai, warding off every attack, while moving around the two older warriors with dancer's grace.  
  
And when Genma and Soun moved to retire, Ranma asked the same thing he asked everyday, but only once: "You're holding something back, old man."  
  
Genma dismissed the charges with a shrug, and went off about his own business. Ranma stayed, and did katas and motions, before heading out to the yard for his strength training, and a personal review of what he'd done earlier in the day. The dedication and the passion to which he applied himself were truly impressive. However, growing quickly bored, Happosai left the boy to his own devices, and went to tend to his silky 'collection.' If Ranma asked, nicely, perhaps he would deign to share the secrets of true power. If not... there were others with great potential in Nerima. Besides, Happosai looked at the final ingredients he had managed to bring together in lieu of tonight's raiding, he had to prepare himself for the New Year.  
  
Ranma hit the dummy, knuckle on, causing the stiff wood to shake as if wounded and in pain. A single black and yellow irregularly colored bandanna shook with it, barely holding onto where it had been tied. Ranma struck again and again, in measured degrees, carefully regulating the power and speed of his blows. The old men were forcing him to attend school tomorrow - they, like everyone else, didn't understand. Kasumi had her household duties, and Nabiki had her schemes and dealings. Akane had her schoolwork, which she somehow seemed to enjoy, Soun had his dojo and his plans (and his sake), and his father had his retirement to enjoy, even with that stupid job he held down at Dr. Tofu's. Certainly, no one at school could understand or appreciate the situation.   
  
He had lost.  
  
Why didn't they understand that everything else was secondary?  
  
Ryouga's words from a week ago still rung in his mind: haunting him when he slept. He had been toyed with on that first encounter, tested for what little 'progress' he'd managed to eek into his fighting ability in between the useless triad of school, fiancées, and general bouts of laziness. He almost laughed when he thought about it. While he was relaxing in the furo, Ryouga was trudging through some forsaken wasteland somewhere. While he was dodging Shampoo, or trying to convince Akane not to mallet him over the head for some reason or another, Ryouga was perfecting his special techniques. Who knew now what he was truly capable of? While he was studying, being bored nearly to tears in classes, Ryouga was broadening the distance in speed and power between them. And now, because of the worthless intervention of this life they had picked out for him, forced down his throat, he had been humiliated not once, but twice.  
  
He was a Martial Artist first and foremost!   
  
The dummy snapped in half, as Ranma's fist tore through it like a hot knife through butter. Annoyed, he stopped and picked up the upper torso of the training dummy, with the scuffed old bandanna, retrieved from their battle two weeks ago, and stared at it. It was an effigy, and a warning - 'Hibiki Ryouga, I will defeat you!' Their last encounter, however, was as fresh in his mind as if it had been just five minutes ago. The raw power the Lost Boy was able to summon around him was amazing, only dwarfed by Cologne and Happosai's own battle auras. Ryouga had always had an impressive aura when pressed, but this was on another level. Ranma's own Ki was like a flickering candle caught in an inferno. A blanketing forest fire seemed to dance around Ryouga, as a mysterious heaviness seemed to build and push to their knees any who would dare stand in defiance before such a display.  
  
A monster.  
  
A monster with the strength of a hundred men, and more: a monster with speed that defied imagination, even in comparison to Ranma's own swift female form. A monster with attacks so precise; motions so economical, power so unstoppable... what set of circumstances could drive a boy to become such a creature? When his unknown ability in terms of special techniques was factored in, Ranma couldn't help bit shiver in some small measure of apprehension. And it was that glimmer of fear, and depression, that Ranma could never forgive his rival for, even as it was the thing that made him, and him alone, so worthy an opponent. If he couldn't win... if he couldn't defeat the Lost Boy, then he had nothing, and he knew it. If he failed, here, then an entire lifetime, and single life - his own - would be meaningless and void.  
  
If Saotome Ranma couldn't win, than what good was he?  
  
With a feral snarl, Ranma backhanded the upper torso of the practice dummy, reducing it to so much straw and broken wood. Discarding the remains, Ranma resolved himself to turn in for the night, where perhaps more secrets of the Saotome School would be found amid his father's, or Happosai's, piles of junk. And if not, then perhaps more insight would be found in dreams. Regardless, one thing was certain: if a choice had to be made between Saotome Ranma or Hibiki Ryouga, the former had to be the last one standing.  
  
"I won't lose! Not again!"  
  
No matter the cost.  
  
***  
  
"So, where's Shampoo?"  
  
Mousse shrugged. "Off doing errands for the old ghoul. She says she'll visit tomorrow."  
  
"Oh." Ukyou closed her restaurant, locking it securely, before adjusting her bandolier and uniform to make sure she appeared male to most.  
  
"You look fine, Kounji." Mousse quickly grew tired of seeing her fidget. "Not that everyone doesn't know already."  
  
"What? Saotome doesn't know."  
  
"He'll figure it out sooner or later, even with those bindings. And you should strap those on diagonally, not horizontally. It'd free up more room for... you know, weapons and stuff."  
  
"You have a real two track mind, Mousse. Sharp objects and Shampoo." Ukyou double-checked to make sure her megaspatula was tightly in place, and adjusted her stance a bit. "Quick route?"  
  
Mousse nodded, and the two jumped up and onto a neighboring rooftop. "And, for your information, Kuonji, I think of plenty of other things besides Shampoo and Weapons."  
  
"Like what?" Ukyou retorted quickly, as the pair jumped again.  
  
"Lots of things!"  
  
"Name two. Just two."  
  
Mousse hesitated a bit. "Um... sports. And current events."  
  
"Yeah right." Ukyou rolled her eyes. "Watch it! Chimney!"  
  
"I see it!" Mousse quickly lowered his glasses, and avoided the brick chimney at the last second, twisting in midair.  
  
"You should really just keep your glasses on, you know." Ukyou braced her landing, barely disturbing the tiled roof at her feet.  
  
"They're always slipping off. And they make me look..." Mousse trailed off.  
  
"Blind?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Better to look blind than stupid."  
  
"Like you'd know," Mousse grumbled, and the pair jumped again to another roof.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"You have perfect eyesight. Everyone else does. Even Hibiki, despite his other problems, can see clearly. You can't imagine what its like to wake up in the morning and have to flail about for your glasses just to see the time."  
  
"Yeah, I just had to wake up and hide my femininity from the world every day since I hit puberty." Ukyou meant to sound sarcastic, but Mousse didn't seem to catch it.  
  
Instead, he chuckled softly.  
  
"Hey! What's so funny, jackass?" Ukyou reached for her megaspatula. Even if they were in midair, she could still clip him upside the head.  
  
"Cross dressing is a capital crime where I come from." Mousse held out his arms slightly, slowing his decent. "Though I think they're more worried about a male posing as a female rather than the other way around."  
  
"I should send Tsubasa their way," Ukyou snickered to herself.   
  
Mousse didn't get it. "What is ...a Tsubasa?"  
  
"Tsubasa is this cross dressing weirdo I knew from junior high. Not important - just a pain in the ass." Ukyou stopped and looked around. "Where is this place anyway?"  
  
"You're asking me?" Mousse adjusted his glasses a bit. "I've never been around here before. I thought you remembered."  
  
"Wonderful. Just wonderful." Ukyou squinted, trying to make out exactly where they were. "We're lost. I can't believe this."  
  
"Calm down. It's not like we're Hibikis."  
  
"Yeah. Just blind and leading the blind," Ukyou quipped.  
  
"My, aren't we sassy tonight? Well, thank goodness for me, I suppose." Mousse reached into the folds of his sleeves, and pulled out a small water bottle. Unloading it over his head, he instantly shrunk down to duck-sized.   
  
"What on earth are you doing?" Ukyou put her hands on her hips as the now avian Mousse took to the air, quacking in a language known only to him. If it was a response to her question, he might as well have said nothing at all. Luckily, he had taken his glasses with him, even if they did take on a somewhat swirled, vacant look. As he quickly disappeared against the dark starlit sky, Ukyou looked down and saw his clothes strewn around, along with more than a few sharp looking weapons.   
  
Looking up again, and not seeing him around, Ukyou took a tentative look in one of the sleeves, pulling out a long spear. Holding it appraisingly, she checked to see if it was collapsible, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was just as it appeared: a plain wooden shaft. There was also a pair of long swords present, poking out from under s length of chain attached to a gauntlet. A little deeper into the sleeve, she found a small pocket stuffed with knives, only their hilts exposed, and some of the Claw weapons he'd used on occasion in lieu of Mandarin Duck Axes. She also found a couple yoyos, each one with a different color, next to what looked like a comical pink stuffed pig.   
  
"A hidden weapon, no doubt." Ukyou make sure to avoid the pig, and slowly pulled out a long staff with a duck on the end and a hole on top. A close examination proved it to be a new 'Fist of the White Swan' weapon. Either that, or it was a spare, seeing as he hadn't used the technique since Ryouga smashed the last one. Oddly, there was what looked like a vial of liquid inside, taped securely to the bottom of the potty. Dismissing it, she put the weapon close to back in place; she finally came to a pile of assorted shuriken. Taking one, she tested the weight and balance of it in comparison to one of her own throwing spatulas. Silently, she wondered just where he got the money for such high quality weapons in Japan or whether he had some enormous cache of them sitting around somewhere, and if so, how did he smuggle them into the country?  
  
Mousse was still an enigma to her.  
  
To everyone, really.   
  
He'd been in Nerima for months now, to her knowledge, and no one really knew anything about him aside from seeing him working at the Nekohanten and occasionally chasing after Shampoo. He had mentioned a job with a traveling circus at one point. There'd been something of a fight with Ranma, and Shampoo got involved, but he wasn't especially talkative about it. No one his age seemed familiar with him in Nerima - most didn't even know who she was talking about until she mentioned where he worked and what he looked like. Some of the girls at school thought he was cute, though his Shampoo obsession and status as a Nerima Martial Artist intimidated them, and not without merit.   
  
The local insane martial artist community as a whole, up to and including Kuno, tended not to get involved with the more 'normal' people of Nerima. It wasn't so much by design; it was just that they tended to prefer the company of those who understood them better. They outperformed virtually everyone physically, and there was an unspoken level of tension and even intimidation Ukyou was aware of when she walked around school. Other girls, and even many boys, would give her a wide berth when she went about going to classes or whatever, whether she wanted it or not, never mind that she was dressed as a boy at the time.   
  
The phenomenon was even more pronounced around Ranma and Kuno. It was due, in her opinion, in Ranma's case, because of his cockiness and boldness when talking to or working with others, and his love of showing off. Kuno simply had a sadistic streak coupled with a perverted streak that even scared the teachers - she'd actually seen Kuno threaten them with his bokken to the point of them giving in to his every and any demand. He was rich as hell, too, which didn't help matters. No matter. Kuno wasn't important anyway, but Ukyou suspected Ranma noticed the phenomenon despite his social ineptness, but she wasn't as sure whether he knew about the whispering behind their backs, always just out of earshot.  
  
They had power that regular students didn't. Additionally, Ukyou had been in school at lot longer than either Ranma or Ryouga - this had been happening to her ever since she first started to 'break the rules' as she liked to call it. Around puberty, it seemed like her training had started to pay off far more easily and more thoroughly than she, or her father, ever imagined. It had been then when she first started to tap into her Ki. The power rush was incredible, almost orgasmic in its intensity the first few times before she had gotten used to it, but at the same time her feats of speed, strength and prowess had begun to ...unnerve those around her. Former friends would avoid her, and some were outright afraid to associate with someone who could just DO so much more than they could. As they found less and less in common, they drifted apart, and as a consequence, Ukyou found less and less to distract her from her martial arts training and the lifestyle her body and her abilities had seemed to lay out for her.   
  
And, in a disturbing way, she found she couldn't stop.  
  
She couldn't stop training. She couldn't stop dipping into the seemingly endless well of Ki, letting the energy flow into her veins, crawl up her spine, and saturate her brain. It was almost like a drug. The more she trained, and the more powerful she became, she more she needed to improve to feel the Ki. It used to be so easy when she was a young girl, and she had first discovered it. Now, channeling that level of Ki felt... numb. It felt like nothing. It felt normal, and normal was quickly becoming inadequate. It was a potentially very bad situation, and a possible problem that Ryouga, as far as she knew, didn't see. She'd mentioned it to Shampoo, but the Chinese girl had just shrugged in a sort of half-understanding way, and gone onto another topic.   
  
Then again, there weren't any normal Amazons anyway: they were probably all like this.   
  
A loud quack interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up in time to see Mousse dive down and pull up just quickly enough to land on his webbed feet. The roof tiles were obviously cold, and he didn't seem to enjoy the prospect of walking around barefoot on it. He quacked again, and looked from his clothes to her. When she just stared back, waiting for him to do something, he quacked a few more times, vainly. Finally, Ukyou just sighed and picked him up. "Mousse, I have no damn clue what you're saying. You need to learn Morse code or something."  
  
Mousse shifted a bit in the crook of her arm, and seemed to give that idea some thought. She sighed again and gathered up Mousse' clothing and weapons. "What should I do with this, huh? Someone will probably steal it, you know, if..."  
  
"Quack."  
  
"Mousse, I already told you...!"  
  
"Quack! Quack." He seemed to shrug, in an unusual avian way that ruffled up his feathers a bit.  
  
"All right." She guessed he meant to leave them there, and looked around at the darkening city. "Which way?"  
  
Mousse-duck pointed his bill in an arbitrary direction. Ukyou hesitated a few seconds to see for herself, before jumping and heading that way via rooftop. As she did, without thinking she tightened her grip on Mousse, and held him close to keep the wind from blowing him out of her arm. He quacked again, in protest, and when she landed Ukyou realized she'd squeezed him a little tight. Ducks, like all birds, had hollow bones, she remembered - making Mousse-duck fairly fragile when compared to Ryouga's pig form, which was, really, all muscle, bone and cartilage, leading to a surprisingly tough little piglet, Bakusai Tenketsu conditioning aside.   
  
He looked up at her, and started evening out and preening his feathers self-consciously.  
  
"Sorry 'bout that, Mu-chan." She laughed softly when he got a little flustered and uncomfortable. He quacked in protest a few times, but clammed up after a few more jumps, when Ukyou finally saw the lights of silhouette of what looked like the University of Tokyo Hospital. They went through receptions with minimal fuss, considering one of them was armed with a massive cooking utensil, and the other was a waterfowl. Luckily, they were on the List, and Nabiki had warned the necessary doctors and staff that any visitors from Nerima were likely to be a bit ...eccentric, especially if they were of the Martial Artist variety.   
  
A glass of warm water later, and Mu-chan became Mousse. Ukyou ostensibly looked away, but couldn't help seeing how the male Amazon somehow transformed with his clothes on. To her amazement, when the triggered metamorphosis began, Mousse's clothes just... appeared, as if it had always been there. Unfortunately, his clothes were also wet in spots, and dripping onto the floor, as he stood up.   
  
"Argh!" He grumbled, squeezing some water out of his still damp left sleeve. "Next time - we take a taxi."  
  
"Quit being such a baby, Mu-chan."  
  
"Che. Don't call me that."  
  
"Why? Ryouga has P-chan for his pig form."  
  
"You wouldn't call him that, though, especially in front of other people." Mousse secured his glasses on his forehead, leaving his piss-poor eyes bare to lead him around. Ukyou figured it was probably all the people around them.  
  
"No. So I'll just call you that in private. Who knows? Maybe it'll make Shamps jealous."  
  
"REALLY?" Mousse exclaimed, grew a goofy grin and started laughing nervously. In his imagination, he could see Shampoo fuming over Ukyou, maybe gently knocking her out, and carting him away into a life of marital bliss. Oh, to feel the passionate embrace of his beloved after all these long years! They'd have an old fashioned Joketsuzoku wedding, maybe... The sudden interruption of metal on skull ended the fantasy in a heartbeat. Mousse blinked, and noticed that everyone was looking at him.   
  
"Jackass." Ukyou shook her head a little and put the battle spatula back into its holster.  
  
"Violent macho chick," Mousse grumbled softly, rubbing the point-of-impact behind his head. They walked in relative silence to the elevator, where another person was waiting to go to the same floor. As they ascended slowly, he pulled down his glasses and got a look at what the nurse was holding. It looked like some kind of medical report, but the writing was barely legible.   
  
Looking up, he saw Ukyou waiting less than patiently for them to get to the sixth floor. She had her arms crossed, and eyes closed. Her long hair was tied up into a ponytail that hung just over her left shoulder. She looked... Then it hit him. She'd make a good Joketsuzoku - an appropriate Amazon. She was easily powerful enough to defeat anyone her age in the village... except maybe Shampoo, now. He'd seen the two girls spar, on occasion, but never actually fight, despite their silent rivalry for Best Non-Ranma Female Martial Artist in the area. He suspected it that if they ever really did go at each other it would be quite the duel.  
  
She was kinda nice, too.  
  
Sixth floor finally came, and Mousse quickly opted for simply keeping his glasses on as they headed for the right room. He was more than a little surprised when he saw Hibiki Ryouga up and about. There was another doctor in the room, a breaded man, who seemed to be writing things into a notebook of some sort. Ryouga gave them a little wave, and walked over as Ukyou closed the door behind them.   
  
"Hi, guys!" He said, sounding happy for once. "I was wondering when you'd drop by."  
  
"Better late than never." Ukyou ribbed him. Ryouga didn't seem to mind the crack at his little 'problem,' when it came from her.  
  
"Too true." He settled for, and then faced the bearded man. "Here, Doc. Two of the people I mentioned. Kuonji Ukyou and Mu Tzu. They can do it too."  
  
"What?" Mousse asked, right off the bat. He hated being kept in the dark, never mind his vision keeping him perpetually paranoid.  
  
"Ki. Doctor Fukudome here is studying the phenomenon for medical purposes or something." Ryouga shrugged. "He even knows Doctor Tofu."  
  
"Oh. Nice to meet you." Ukyou held out her hand for a western style hand shake, a habit in growing popularity at school, and the Doctor took it with only a moment's hesitation.  
  
"Same here." Mousse kept his hands in his sleeves, but gave a quick bow.  
  
With the pleasantries over, the Doctor smiled and reached into his bag, taking out a small black ball. "This is the strength measuring device I mentioned, Hibiki-san. Just squeeze it, and it will record the pressure you exert on it and the muscle fatigue that occurs over time."  
  
"Ok." Ryouga took it, and tested its weight. "Hey, Mousse. Wanna test it for me?"  
  
Mousse shrugged, and caught the little ball with his right hand. It felt vaguely like a 'stress ball,' like the one he had accidentally crushed into paste a few weeks ago after a particularly harsh rejection from his beloved Shampoo, but this device was far less compressible. It felt solid enough, and as Mousse increased the pressure, a small pad of some sort in the Doctor's hands started displaying numbers. The doctor's eyes widened a bit. "Just keep squeezing for another few seconds."  
  
Mousse did, concentrating on holding his grip at peak levels by concentrating his Ki, and then let go. The little black ball quickly returned to its normal size and shape. "Still in one piece. Tough little thing."  
  
"Um... Mousse-san. You peaked a little over five thousand psi."  
  
"Is that... good?"  
  
"Very. It's strong enough to crush rocks. In comparison, a normal human bites down with only around 150 psi."  
  
"Oh. Why not just say so?"  
  
Ukyou took the little black ball, and eyed it carefully. "My turn!"  
  
The okonomiaki chef knew she was physically inferior when compared to Shampoo, and probably Mousse, too, but she was far from weak. And despite dressing like a boy; she still had a feminist streak, and felt a small obligation to represent female martial artists here, lest the good doctor get any politically incorrect ideas. Seeing Doctor Fukudome reset his datapad, and after a silent nod, Ukyou gritted her teeth, and squeezed. Slowly at first, then in a great wave, she concentrated her Ki into her arm and hand. After a few seconds, her initial power faded, as fatigue set in.  
  
"Almost the same." Doctor Fukudome wrote something down on the side of his notebook quickly. "Very impressive."  
  
Ukyou frowned a bit, but released the ball, allowing it to return to its normal state. She handed it over to the lost boy, though not a little reluctantly. "Have fun."  
  
"All right." Ryouga looked at the black ball closely, at eye level, before letting his fingers encircle it, concealing more than half of it completely from view. "It certainly looks pretty tough."  
  
"It is, I assure you." The doctor smiled, encouragingly.  
  
"Is it expensive?"  
  
"It... is of high quality manufacture." The bearded doctor reset his recorder for new measurements. "Please. Go on, Hibiki-san."  
  
"One. ...Two. ...Three," Ryouga said in monotone and began to squeeze. The little ball instantly deformed.   
  
"Eight... no, ten thousand... twelve..."  
  
Ryouga's upper lip curled, revealing a single prominent canine. His arm started to shake, slightly, as muscles became more defined.  
  
"Fifteen... Eighteen..." The doctor's voice was barely a whisper. Ukyou and Mousse weren't paying much attention anyway. Both of them could see hints of Ryouga's ki manifesting all along his arm - tiny, barely visible crackles of electricity discharging into the air. The moment ended, abruptly, with a loud popping sound, and the crunch of metal. Ryouga's fist was completely closed now, and the room was silent. Slowly, the lost boy's fingers parted, revealing the unidentifiable smashed and broken remains of the little black ball.   
  
"Wow," The doctor finally said. "It... it stopped around twenty two thousand psi. I... wow."  
  
"Hmm. 'Hurt my hand, squeezing it like that." Ryouga scraped the bits off on the edge of the table. A few had cut into his skin and drawn blood.  
  
"That was pretty... incredible, Hibiki-san. I can't think of another way to put it."  
  
Ryouga shrugged. "When I was little, I used to crack open walnuts between my thumb and index finger. It was good practice."  
  
"Well." The doctor started gathering his things. "Thank you for your time, Hibiki-san. The data I gathered will be very useful."  
  
"No problem. If you really want to know more about Ki, there's a restaurant, called the Nekohanten, in Nerima. The old woman there is a real Master. She'd be able to show you some really impressive things, I'd imagine. Just say that Hibiki Ryouga sent you and ask for the Seafood Deluxe Ramen. It's second to none." Ryouga gave Ukyou a quick look. "When it comes to noodles, anyway."  
  
"I might do just that, as you can imagine this research could have far reaching effects. Harnessing this power for the good of mankind could not only benefit the healing sciences, but ...in other realms as well, like in outer space, keeping muscles from growing atrophied. I'll keep you abreast of things, in case we should schedule another meeting." Doctor Fukudome and Ryouga bowed formally, and the older man left.   
  
"So..." Ryouga turned back to his friends. "How are things going with you guys?"  
  
"Good." Ukyou went up to him, a little bit of her femininity showing now, as she checked the little piece of gauze bandaged to his neck. "Are you alright, sugar? I saw you when... you know."  
  
"You looked like a mess, Hibiki," Mousse just came out and said it. "A bloody mess."  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
"But here you are: up and about already." Mousse smirked. "Crushing medical instruments just like normal."  
  
"Jackass." Ukyou sighed, and checked the bandage herself. There was a small scar, barely noticeable. Letting it go, she looked him over, finally noticing the hospital gown they had him in. "He looks perfectly fine... Good, even."  
  
"Ukyou!" Ryouga blushed crimson at the tone of her voice and jumped back, out of reach.  
  
"I'm just kidding!" Ukyou took a few steps forward, and Ryouga calmed a little. Suddenly, her face became serious. "I was worried about you, you know. I mean, it was my stupid shirt that..."  
  
"Forget about it." Ryouga waved it off instantly. "It was my fault for facing down two armed police anyway."  
  
Mousse saw Ukyou's features soften again. To say that she had been worried was a drastic understatement. She had cried like a woman possessed from the moment she arrived to the moment he and Shampoo had finally dragged her back to her restaurant. Mousse had never seen a woman cry that much... of course, Mousse had never really seen a woman cry at all before he came to Japan, but she had been in a bad way up to and until they finally got word that the lost boy had stabilized and was, indeed, rapidly healing his wounds. He had felt like crying himself, but he held it in, if only to mimic Ranma and the other Japanese men present. Shampoo had been stoic, channeling her emotions into the Amazon standby - rage. Akane seemed pensive, and more than a little in shock. Kasumi looked a bit stricken, but she was well composed as always and confident things would work out.  
  
What had surprised him the most, though, was Nabiki, the Mercenary of Furinkan High. When he had gotten there, at first what he had noticed was the blood on her shirt. Then he saw her eyes. They looked red and a bit sunken, as if she had been crying at one point, though she was in control of herself when they got there. It was shortly after that, when Ranma said something to her, causing her to stalk off angrily, that all hell broke loose. Akane yelled at Ranma, and so did Ukyou.   
  
Ranma then made a truly dumb mistake, and said something about Ukyou 'crying like a girl.' Of course, she instantly attacked him, despite the pigtailed boy's injuries, or perhaps encouraged by them to finish the job, so to speak. Shampoo and Akane had to hold back the pigtailed idiot while he tried to disarm the angry woman before they all got banned from the place.  
  
"That jackass. I can't believe he DID that! Don't worry, though." Ukyou smiled, though it was far from friendly as she addressed Ryouga. "Mousse and I are going to pay Saotome a little visit come New Years."  
  
"Just be careful." Ryouga warned. "I hear he's almost certainly been training non-stop."  
  
"Don't worry about us. Mousse's got the perfect lure to get him just where we want him. Caught off guard, we can shift things in our favor."  
  
"A lure, eh? Is it... women's underwear?"  
  
"No." Mousse rolled his eyes.  
  
Ryouga guessed again, giving it more thought this time. "Food?"  
  
"No!" Mousse sighed. "A piglet. The little guy looks just like your pig form. I ordered him from a pig farmer in the countryside. Get this- she raises ...Sumo Pigs."  
  
"Sumo pigs?" Ryouga looked at the male Amazon disbelievingly. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Sumo. Pigs," Mousse repeated, stressing each word. "Big ones, too. Water buffalo sized."  
  
"Ugh." Ryouga recoiled in obvious distaste. "That's just... weird. Why would anyone train pigs in Sumo? It doesn't make any sense."  
  
"I know!"  
  
"Maybe they're attack pigs," Ukyou interrupted. "Who knows? Who cares? The little black porker is the perfect bait in case Ranma's on his guard, which he almost certainly will be."  
  
"It's just odd." Ryouga scratched the back of his head. "Sumo Pigs? Maybe it's some freaky eccentric martial arts animal style. Like pig form Kung Fu."  
  
"There's a pig-form for Kung Fu?" Ukyou looked from Ryouga to Mousse.  
  
"How the hell would I know?" Mousse said defensibly. "She just said she raised Sumo Pigs and asked if I was single."  
  
"Ohhh! You never told me that!" Ukyou nudged him in the side. "You charmer!"  
  
"Hey, hey Mousse!" Ryouga jumped in. "Sly!"  
  
"It's not like that!" The Chinese boy groaned. "I told her I loved another woman from my village, paid for the little guy, and left. This HUGE pig, I mean elephant sized, kept staring at me. I think he wanted to eat me, or something. The thing was a monster, I swear."  
  
"Anyway..." Ukyou tried to steer the conversation to something with a point. "New Years, we strike!"  
  
"Vengeance!" Mousse shook his fist while snickering in a suitably evil fashion.   
  
Ryouga just nodded and smiled. 


	8. Learning Curve part 8

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part VIII (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner  
  
"Ayia! What little black pig doing in stupid Mousse's room? Ryouga, you sneak out of hospital?"  
  
"Bwee!"  
  
"Well, come on." Shampoo turned and gestured for the pig to follow. "Shampoo get you hot water."  
  
The little animal sat on its haunches, and seemed to give that a few moments' thought. Not one to wait, Shampoo quickly picked him up, ignoring his small squeal of protest. Shampoo found this odd - it wasn't the first time she'd picked him up in his cursed form. They'd both been splashed more than a few times when they sparred during his Bakusai Tenketsu training. Then again, he'd never been without his bandanna either. Feeling a bit emboldened, and curious, she scratched him behind the ears. To her surprise, instead of grunting in annoyance, he moved with the hand, and seemed quite content.  
  
"Is you feeling ok, Ryouga?" She looked him in the eyes. There seemed to be some spark of intelligence, but no real understanding of the words. Hurrying downstairs and into the kitchen, she started boiling a kettle of water. The pig seemed uncomfortable in the place, but dutifully sat down where Shampoo placed him.   
  
While waiting for the liquid to warm up, she switched to Mandarin Chinese, the dialect he was most familiar with. "I've been thinking about some things. Now that you're back and all."  
  
"Bwee?"  
  
Shampoo sat down, and the pig jumped up and onto her knee, studying her carefully.  
  
"It's Ranma," She continued, "I ...I don't think he'll ever marry me. I don't think he even likes me. I've done some really stupid things while you were gone. The thing with stupid Mousse always attacking Ranma because of the marriage law, that Instant Nannichuan, the Love Pills, this weird mushrooms... Don't look at me like that; I used the magic on Ranma, not Akane. I never said I wouldn't try it on him, just her."  
  
"Bwee."  
  
"Good." Shampoo rocked back a bit in the chair, sighing. "This whole trip... this whole business here in Japan has been nothing but a disaster. Sometimes, I think you're the only friend I have in this whole country."  
  
The pig blinked and tilted his head to the side a little. "Qee?"  
  
"Ryouga... promise me we'll stay friends. Especially after I tell you..." Shampoo shook her head, letting her velvet tresses flow behind her. "Well, great grandmother, she... I know I promised that when you beat me, that first time we fought, that it didn't involve any of our rules or anything, but great grandmother doesn't see things that way. She says she wanted to keep the option open."  
  
The pig looked at her quizzically.  
  
"You know what I'm saying, right?"  
  
"Bwee."  
  
"Is that a yes or a no?" Shampoo reached for the kettle, and put the pig on the floor. "You're a nice guy, and I think... I think we could be happy. You'd like the village. It's too small to get lost in after a few weeks, and..."  
  
The water hit the pig.  
  
"And... um... and..."  
  
And the pig didn't transform.  
  
"Bwee."  
  
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Great grandmother!!!!!!!"  
  
***  
  
New Years' Day was a busy one in the market. Aside from last minute shopping, there was also a good deal of entertainment and families just enjoying the night together. Of the sights, however, one stuck out like a sore thumb. The sheer number of people gathered together to see what was so interesting attracted even more.  
  
"Woah, check it out!"  
  
"She beat the middleweight machine like it was nothing!"  
  
"How'd she get so strong?"  
  
Akane gave the crowd a little wave, and quickly reminded herself that she wasn't indulging or impressing the crowd: she was doing this for fun, and as a test of strength. The middleweight arm-wrestling machine was no real challenge, true, but only she knew that. It was worth almost anything just to see the astonished expressions on the faces of the people around her. ...Especially the men. The ego of the male gender had always been one of her not-so-little pet peeves, and any opportunity to beat some of their unspoken male pride into the ground was to be taken advantage of.   
  
It wasn't that she hated men; she didn't.  
  
She just didn't like them.   
  
Rolling up her sleeve, she smirked. "Too easy! Next!"  
  
The heavyweight machine awaited her, finally. She'd beat it, almost certainly, she knew, but this time she decided to pretend to struggle a little. Let those in the crowd start to whisper and say that she had 'met her match.' Let them think that for a few seconds, and then, she'd beat the machine and savor the looks on their faces and the gasps of awe. Of admiration. Of respect. The respect she deserved, as a martial artist, as a woman, as herself - they'd respect her, or at the very least, fear her a little. Unlike Kuno, or Ukyou, or Shampoo, or Ranma, or even the students of Furinkan, to these people, she'd be something to remember, and to be inspired by. Then, of course, she'd go home, and be overshadowed by damn near everyone, but until then...  
  
Akane gritted her teeth. The machine was putting up more of a fight than she expected. Pushing harder, she felt it match her easily, so the youngest Tendo decided to end it then and there, and kicked up her strength to its maximum. It gave for half a second, before recovering and matching her again. Then, to her surprise and shock, it began to push her back. She struggled, tears just starting to tinge her peripheral vision and cool, quickly, against the winder air. She was losing, and from behind and around, she could hear the whispers, louder now.  
  
Then, the inevitable happened, and she felt the back of her hand slam against the hard wood, but, before anything could be said, the façade of the arm wrestling machine began to crack and deform. A plume of violet hair, and elaborate green and red, Chinese styled sweater, and a familiar laugh heralded the entrance of a certain Chinese Amazon. Shampoo smirked, one foot on the table, and the other lazily drooped over her knee, while Akane panted from exertion.  
  
"You still weak, Akane."  
  
The youngest Tendo just growled, despite being short of breath. "I demand a rematch!"  
  
"You never be strong enough to beat me!" Shampoo suddenly seemed to remember something when a soft beep from her right pocket got her attention. "Besides, no have time play with violent girl! Still have deliveries to make."  
  
"Shampoo...!"  
  
From out of nowhere, the Chinese girl produced her assault-bike and took off, using Akane's head and back as a ramp to get on the street. Akane turned, hissing in anger, just in time to see Shampoo give her a little salute.   
  
"I win last battle of year! Ha!"  
  
Alone in the crowd, Akane seethed.  
  
At the Tendo Dojo, Ranma's kata was interrupted, again, when Kasumi walked in. He wiped a few stray beads of sweat from his brow. "Hey, Kasumi. What's up?"  
  
"Ranma-kun," she asked in that demure, caring way that usually brooked no dissent. "Would you please go look for Akane? I don't want her to miss dinner."  
  
Ranma thought about it a second before answering. "I'm sure she's fine, Kasumi. Akane's more than capable of taking care of herself. Trust me, I know. So don't worry 'bout it, ok?"  
  
The oldest of the Tendo daughters seemed to accept that. "Well... dinner will be in thirty minutes."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
When Kasumi left, Ranma let his next movement carry him into a different kata, one of the new ones he'd taken a liking to. He didn't like saying no to Kasumi in any form; the girl was like his older sister, or something, or even his mother, but she didn't understand him, or his training. It would be a waste of his time to go looking for Akane - no one had tried to kidnap her since Mousse, months ago, and even then, Mousse had only thought he'd kidnapped her. In reality, he'd just kidnapped a doll that looked nothing like her. If she wanted to wander around, it really wasn't his business to stop her. She'd probably just mallet him or something for his troubles anyway.  
  
He wasn't anyone's keeper, even if that person did sort of grow on you after a long enough period of time. That thought lingered for only a moment before it, too, was gone, replaced by the movement and flow of the well-practiced kata. His focus sharpened, and turned inward, and he could feel his Ki flowing through every vein, and in and out of every pore. He was like a living ocean of energy, and his movements were like a tide, and every minute, every hour, made him a little bit more comfortable and proficient in accessing and allocating his Ki into his body. A little more, into the arms, not an even distribution, but degrees of difference, mentally calculated through intense hours of knowing one's body on a plane beyond physical.  
  
It was this silent barrier that separated him from the mundane masses of mankind.  
  
His schoolmates, and his quasi-friends and acquaintances there could never understand the oneness and fulfillment of purpose and form he had become. Their words, their movements, their thoughts... so slow and awkward and wasteful. They could no more understand him, or compare themselves to him, than a puddle of rainwater could the Pacific Ocean. He was Saotome Ranma. They... were not. An oversimplification, true, but it was close enough to be accurate. Ranma moved, and thought, and focused, and around him the world faded. Time seemed timeless, space seemed space-less, and every thought magnified as if through a kaleidoscope.   
  
Then, he felt it.  
  
The distant, and yet always at hand, pull of the Abyss from which all power was drawn. He could feel, amid his thoughts, and deep in his physical body, from a point with no true physical reference, the horizon of the well. Or the black hole, perhaps. It drew him in with promises of warmth and power. It was the great tempter, power, and he had to fight to keep control of where he stood, between the abyss, and the fall. He drew more, just a little bit, without falling into the trap of taking in more than he could handle. Too little, and his exercises and training would be wasted... his life, would be wasted, but too much, and he could burn himself out, like a wicker candle caught in a forest fire.  
  
Some had a natural ability to channel, control, and manipulate their Ki, and could dip further into the well with each attempt, eventually outstripping those less fortunate. He felt himself questioning his ability, and his bravery - was this temptation, or a product of logical thought? Was it both? He wanted more, and he was confident he could draw more, safely, but the bridge of his nose burnt, as if smelling sulfur. A warning, perhaps, or was it an outside factor? He finally pulled back, after what seemed like hours of standing at the edge.  
  
Ranma blinked, and he was in the dojo.  
  
Akane was looking at him.  
  
"What?" He asked, checking himself. He seemed fine, though breathing heavily, and he was in his male body. Everything was what and where it should be.  
  
"Nothing!" Akane suddenly got self-conscious, and adjusted the black belt around her waist that hugged her white sparring Gi to her body. "Want to spar?"  
  
"Why now?"  
  
"The same reason you're here. I just want to get better."  
  
He shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. Why not?"  
  
She attacked, as she always did, opening up with a powerful jab that, had it connected, would have had enough force to shatter a block of concrete, but at this point, he'd have brushed it off like it was nothing. Akane continued, in her usual style, which was better suited to plowing through multiple attackers, and not as effective in a dueling scenario, especially against someone with his level of speed and flexibility. He dodged, blurring here and there, as she pressed the assault.   
  
Akane was good, do doubt, but she wasn't anywhere near his league, and almost certainly never would be. It was a pity, really. He'd have liked someone who came closer to understanding the Art, and him, better. Then again, would he? The thought of trying to live with a girl who acted like he did made him realize that he'd never be able to stand it. There could only be one Saotome Ranma. His ego would not allow it any other way.  
  
"Stop dodging and fight me!"  
  
Ranma jumped, avoiding a kick to the midsection, and landed on her head, driving her to the floor. It was one of his favorite tricks, because it annoyed people no end, and that made them clumsy and slow when they retaliated. Only Ryouga had ever been able to tag him after he used this trick. Akane fumed, and as always, Ranma checked her neck. He'd been doing the land-on-head thing for years, and he was damn good at it, but he'd never once used it on a regular person for fear of breaking their neck. Akane was far from regular, but it didn't hurt to be careful.  
  
"What are you so worked up about?" Ranma ran a hand through his hair, casually, and stepped off her head.  
  
Akane looked up at him, shaking with some unknown emotion. "I'm a martial artist too, you know! I have my pride!"  
  
"Shampoo." Ranma guessed.  
  
Akane kept silent, but Ranma knew it. Shampoo was the only thing besides himself and the Kunos that really got to Akane now. Kuno and Kodachi made her mad, and generally got punted for their efforts, and the sparring between Akane and himself were primarily verbal, again, with the occasional punting or malleting, but nothing serious anymore. Not after what had happened in the mountains and that fight with Ryouga.   
  
Shampoo, however, always upstaged Akane, especially in martial arts and cooking. Not that Ranma himself particularly cared what the two of them did, as long as it didn't interrupt or involve him, but he didn't exactly like it much either. Especially when it made Akane want to cook to prove herself, and force the food, if it could be called that, down his throat.  
  
Then, if became life threatening.  
  
"Look," he began, but got cut off by a voice from the far side of the dojo.  
  
"Dinner!" Nabiki called, adjusting her blouse. "Break it up, you two."  
  
Ranma 'humfed' and Akane blushed a bit, before quickly hiding it. Quickly, Ranma straightened his shirt. "Good. I'm hungry."  
  
"One thing, first." Nabiki held out her hand, before he could leave the dojo. "We have company over tonight for New Years. I don't want you to cause trouble."  
  
Ranma crooked an eyebrow. "Oh?"  
  
"You cause trouble... and I'll cause trouble. And I don't think you want that." Nabiki smiled, warmly, like a cat would to a canary.  
  
"Whatever." Ranma said, scowling, not in the mood for her or her schemes. She stepped to the side, and he walked past the middle Tendo girl. He made his way into the dining room, and stopped, instantly. Dr. Tofu was sitting, watching Kasumi put food on the table, his glasses fogged over worse than the Labrador Coast. Happosai was watching some swimsuit models on the television intently, a bit of drool collecting at the side of his mouth. His father was nursing his stomach, and waiting intently for the food to be served. And, sitting to the left of Mr. Tendo, and talking animatedly with him, was none other than the lost boy himself.  
  
A flash a panic shot up Ranma's spine, before disappearing. He wasn't ready to defeat Ryouga, not yet - but the other boy obviously wasn't here for a fight. With that established, a veritable gamut of emotions vied in Ranma's mind for dominance. This was the first time he'd seen Ryouga since the incident at his home. He was alive, and seemingly well, which Ranma found (to his surprise) relieved him. Yet: what was he doing here? More to the point, who did he think he was, being here? After everything that had passed between them, just who the hell did Ryouga think he was showing up like this?  
  
"Some company," Ranma said and smirked, cruelly. "Inviting a pig to the table."  
  
Ryouga bristled, a bit, but actually ignored the comment and went back to discussing things with the Tendo patriarch. Ranma was about to say something more, when Nabiki and Akane came in from behind him. Nabiki walked right past him, but Akane paused to elbow him in the ribs. "Don't annoy Ryouga-kun."  
  
"You're being awfully friendly with him." Ranma didn't hide the contempt in his voice. Akane was defending this guy? Why? She had more reason to dislike Ryouga than Ranma did!  
  
"That's because he IS my friend." Akane said, then continued more softly. "I'm doing this for your sake, too."  
  
Ranma didn't quite know what to say about that. His sake? Deciding he'd figure it out later, he watched as Akane took her seat, around the same time Nabiki sat next to Ryouga. Ranma was about to make another, more playful, attempt at goading the lost boy, when Nabiki gave him a hard uncompromising glare. Grumbling, the pigtailed one took a seat, between his father and Akane, who was seated opposite her father and next to the still-drooling and distracted old freak.  
  
"Happy New Year's, everybody!" Kasumi put the last of the soba noodles on the table and took her own seat, disastrously enough next to Dr. Tofu. To his credit, the doctor was able to keep from breaking anything. He simply chewed happily on his napkin.  
  
"Happy New Years!" Ryouga seconded, much to Ranma's annoyance. As was typical of the family, they ate quickly, and in a minute, everything was gone. Ranma wiped a bit of a noodle from his lower lip, faced Ryouga, and locked eyes with him. He could see the dismissing look in the other boy's eyes, and it brought a fresh wave of anger up to flood Ranma's mind, riding a crest of jealousy and bitterness from two previous defeats. Ranma smiled, ready to rip into his former 'friend.'  
  
Then, Happosai howled, "NO!! My Soba Noodles!"  
  
The attention of the two martial artists turned to the elderly pervert at the end of the table, who seemed to be making quiet noises to himself, his television program now over and the credits rolling down the screen. His bowl was also half empty. Soun leaned forward.  
  
"Master? ...What's so funny?"  
  
"I was crying, you idiot!" Happosai clunked Soun over the head with his pipe.  
  
"Ah... That was good, Kasumi!" Akane put her bowl down, and instantly, the table cracked and gave way, splitting down the middle.  
  
"You... YOU ate my Super Soba!" Happosai stood up, and glared at Akane.  
  
"Super Soba?" Genma scratched his head.  
  
"The wood could have just been rotten," Nabiki pointed out.  
  
"The house is very old," Kasumi contributed.  
  
"Wha... what a coincidence to see you here, Kasumi!" Dr. Tofu didn't contribute, he just mumbled to himself, mostly.  
  
"And I spent so long gathering the ingredients!" Happosai began to cry, and then launched himself at Akane. "A good cry in your bosom should make it up to me!"  
  
Akane's hand came up, and Happosai was sent flying on contact, crashing into and through the far wall. The youngest Tendo looked at her palm.  
  
"Wow..." She said, and smiled broadly. "Super Soba."  
  
"Bah," Ranma interrupted. "The old freak's just toying with you. I'll prove it."  
  
Ranma lied down, on his side; arm up in silent challenge. Akane did the same, and they locked hands. Ryouga looked on, in amazement, as Ranma's whole body was flattened and thrown to the side in a loud crash, leaving a Ranma-shaped hole in the floor.  
  
"Oh my," Kasumi said what everyone thought.  
  
"Again!" Ranma got up, and Akane soundly thrashed him again.  
  
"Again!"  
  
Crash.  
  
"Again!"  
  
Crash.  
  
"AGAIN!!!"  
  
Crash.  
  
"It seems Ranma-kun is a real glutton for punishment." Nabiki blinked, not really believing her eyes.   
  
"Nothing new in that revelation." Ryouga shook his head, as the bells outside began to ring - the first of hundred and eight times.  
  
"I'm... so happy!!" Akane began to cry tears of joy.   
  
Soun sniffled and did the same. "My little girl... I'm so proud."  
  
"Our poor house," Nabiki interrupted, but didn't quite wail.  
  
Akane smiled at her older sister, and then at Ryouga. "Hey! I bet I'm even stronger than you now, Ryouga!"  
  
"Maybe." He shrugged, not really caring. Even if she was, it was because of that magic Soba.  
  
"Want to find out?"  
  
"No. Not really." Ryouga scratched behind his ear, not quite comfortable with where this is going.  
  
"Are you afraid you're going to lose?" Akane ventured.  
  
"Akane!" Kasumi and Nabiki said at the same time.  
  
"Yeah, P-chan!" Ranma spoke up, from his hole in the floor. "Afraid she's going to beat you?"  
  
Ryouga's eyes narrowed. He spared Nabiki a quick glance, before resigning himself to his fate and lying down. Slowly, he rolled up the long sleeve on his right arm. Akane hesitated a bit - he looked stronger than Ranma, and much more heavily muscled. Indeed, she knew he was far stronger than Ranma. It wouldn't look good if she lost. Ryouga was a friend, yes, but she found herself praying that he'd lose. It'd be painful to lose face after goading him into a match with her. They locked hands, and Akane felt his large hand, and calloused fingers, close around hers with gentle, but incredible, strength. His face seemed neutral, but it was obvious he wasn't very comfortable in the situation he'd been thrust into. He waited for her, and Akane used a sudden, powerful burst to try and overwhelm him like she had Ranma.   
  
His arm barely moved, though the ground beneath their elbows cracked and began to give way. A moment of panic set into Akane's brain, and she tried again, applying constant pressure. Still, his arm held, though she could see he was gritting his teeth now. She couldn't see him, but to the side, Ranma's eyes were wide as saucers. Akane started to feel fatigued - she was stronger than ever, but her endurance was the same. And an endurance contest with Hibiki Ryouga was no contest at all. Finally, mercifully, the floor under them gave way, kicking up some dust.   
  
Ryouga's hand left hers, and he stood up, shaking his arm a little.   
  
"Tie?" He asked, his voice hopeful.  
  
"Tie," she agreed, and the two shook hands. He obviously seemed grateful it had ended when it did, and Akane wasn't sure whether or not, had it come down to it, he would have beaten her or let her win, to save face. He smiled weakly, nervously, and Akane nodded. He knew the ground would give out before one of them won. Mentally, she kicked herself for challenging him in the first place. Some friend she turned out to be.  
  
"Well, that was fun," Ryouga lied, and bowed politely to Mr. Tendo. "I think it's time to go. Thank you for the meal, Tendo-san."  
  
"Anytime. You two have fun, now!" Mr. Tendo waved him off.  
  
"Bye, daddy!" Nabiki waved back, grabbed her jacket, and headed out, Ryouga following right behind her. Ryouga neither had, nor needed, a jacket, because the cold wasn't really a problem for him, but he waited while Nabiki fitted herself into hers. She was wearing a barely loose fitting black blouse, blue jeans, and her jacket was almost the same shade of yellow gold that he wore. The winter, so far, had been mild, and her jacket looked quite light. He blushed, and turned away a bit, looking outside. In the sky, he could see the occasional flash of fireworks going off. Checking his watch, he smiled a bit.   
  
Nabiki had given it to him for Christmas, though he'd still been in the hospital at the time. Of course, he hadn't been able to do any shopping for anyone, so he just promised to 'owe her one' even though he suspected he was getting himself deeper into debt and doubted she'd paid for it with her own money. To his surprise, she invited him over for New Years, and said that she just wanted to go out and see the town with someone - at their expense, of course, instead of just sitting around and watching television like the family normally did.  
  
She took his arm, and led him out. Ryouga was still blushing in embarrassment, and fought to keep it under control. This was Nabiki - a standoffish, manipulative woman, though at times nice and even cute. No: not so much cute. She was alluring. Attractive. Mesmerizing. Cute would be a woodland creature. Mesmerizing would be a diamond - faceted and reflective. That was Nabiki. She was also a master actor and player of the game, and not to be trusted. Still...   
  
He grinned, a little shyly, and let her lead him out of the house and to the front gate, chuckling stupidly under his breath. She turned to him, as they walked, and smiled, pleasantly. "Thanks."  
  
That caught him off guard, and snapped him back to near attention. "For what?"  
  
"Letting her win," Nabiki said, plainly.  
  
"I... don't know what you're talking about. That soba was strong stuff... she's stronger than anyone I've ever met before."  
  
"Maybe. But wood doesn't just explode in little puffs of smoke naturally you know." She ribbed him, gently, but he felt it. "I don't think anyone else saw it though. I was a little surprised myself - don't you need to yell 'Bakusai Tenketsu' to do the move?"  
  
Ryouga laughed, softly. "No. That's only when you're learning. It helps develop focus. Consider that fact a freebee."  
  
"Very generous of you, Hibiki." Nabiki opened the gate, and they stepped out together.   
  
***  
  
Inside the house, Ranma was taking a quick break to watch a little television. Flipping through the channels, he sighed as the news turned from local events to weather to shots of the fireworks silhouetted against Tokyo Tower. Thinking over the events of the last twelve months, Ranma had mixed feelings about it all. Approaching the present, he stifled a frustrated growl. It was bad enough losing to Ryouga, but to have Akane overpower him because of some stupid magic soba...   
  
He reminded himself not to worry about that, or the directionally challenged enemy out to destroy him, with whom he had a life-or-death duel who-knew-when. Tonight, he would relax a bit. Watching the fireworks, in this place, he savored the rare moment of normal, mundane calm. Things had really been so much simpler back when it had just been his father and himself, wandering and training together. Still, even with all the trouble, a part of the younger Saotome was glad he'd found a place, a home, to settle in for a while.   
  
In that moment, on that tangent, he thought of his mother. He hardly knew her, so he didn't exactly 'miss' her... but who was she? What was she doing this New Years? Did she miss him? Did she live at her home, or their home, or what? Was she a Martial Artist - on that, at least, Ranma almost knew she wasn't. If she was, Genma would have probably taken her with them on their training trip.  
  
"Mom." The word felt alien to the pigtailed boy. "Mother."  
  
Sighing, he went back to looking at the television.   
  
"...The hell?" Ranma blinked as a quick black shape passed by the periphery of his vision, silhouetted against the lights out over the koi pond and the rest of the yard. It looked almost like... P-chan. But that was impossible. Ryouga obviously wasn't sleeping with Akane in that form, now that she knew his secret, and besides, he'd left with Nabiki a little while ago. Then again, he hadn't seen Ryouga change at all since he came back, mostly because he wasn't in the Nerima-Water Hazard Area that much, but the fact remained. Also, he hadn't responded to the P-chan taunting like he usually did. Was he cured? Was his cursed form, maybe now a separate creature, returning to its 'home?'  
  
"Hey, pig!" Ranma ran out to the edge of the dojo, where it opened into the yard, and looked around. The little critter was gone. That was odd... he had been around here somewhere. Focused on the search, he didn't see the shadows descending from above.  
  
"NOW!"  
  
"Get 'im!"  
  
"What?" Ranma whirled, avoiding a rather long and nasty looking sword that imbedded itself into the dojo floor where he'd been standing, followed by a flurry of thrown bolas. Thrown off guard, Ranma had been unable to properly dodge the bolas, and had paid the price for it, having his left arm tightly wound around his chest. The sword was still quivering where it had cut into the ground, when a flurry of spatulas rained down, forcing Ranma to jump back, and twist to avoid the blades. Still in midair, Ranma got a look at his attackers as they leapt from the shadows.  
  
"Aw, geez!" Ranma groaned. "You two idiots?"  
  
"Time for a humbling, Saotome!" Ukyou was the quickest, and closed the distance, while Mousse stayed at range, a long polearm drawn and ready.  
  
"Why don't you two morons just get lost?" Ranma back flipped away from Ukyou's initial attack, and lashed out with a kick that caught her at the back of the neck. Ukyou flew back with the blow, tucked her legs in, and landed on her feet, none the worse for wear.  
  
"Why don't YOU just DIE?!" Ukyou roared, crossed her arms, and concentrated. Her battle aura flowed out and over her, and her hands blurred, as she loosed two-dozen mini-spatulas in as many heartbeats.   
  
"Yeah, right!" Ranma took a familiar stance, his hands starting to move at incredible speed to deflect the blades. "Katchu..."  
  
"Painiyao Chuan Version 2.1!"  
  
Ranma grunted, as the first of a hailstorm of blows connected with his lower back, and tossing him right into the blizzard of thrown mini-spatulas. The instant of panic came and passed, but Saotome Ranma pivoted, and let his momentum carry him forward and down, passing through the weapons with only a nick across the shoulder. Rolling forward, he kicked up and out, towards Ukyou, his battle aura now in full force. The awkwardness of the move gave her enough time to move, allowing Ukyou to block the kick. Landing, Ranma looked down to see what kind of damage he'd taken, and saw them.  
  
Breasts.  
  
He was female. How? To his side, Mousse started laughing. "Let's see how cocky you are now, Saotome!"  
  
"Hey!" Ranma saw Mousse throw aside the broken, and still slightly damp, Fist of the White Swan. He'd obviously remade it to hold water, and break after a few blows, drenching the target. To Ranma's right, Ukyou advanced, slowly.  
  
"Heh!" Mousse gave a single, sharp laugh, his hands in his sleeves. "He's weaker in his girl form. Much easier to deal with."  
  
"Double team on three, sugar!" Ukyou was chuckling softly, her male-guise ponytail wafting in the breeze blown in from the now-open side of the dojo. She was out of mini-spatulas in her bandolier, but Ranma knew she had other surprises hidden on her person.  
  
"One!" Mousse took a step forward.  
  
"Two!" Ukyou shifted her grip on her megaspatula.  
  
"Three." Ranma spat, and they attacked.  
  
***  
  
"Hey, look. It's Kuno."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"There." Ryouga pointed down the street. Nabiki squinted a bit in the low light, before finally making out the shape of a certain familiar kendoist. "Looks like he sees us."  
  
Nabiki scoffed. "I really don't feel like dealing with Kuno-chan right now."  
  
"It's a little too late now." Ryouga shrugged. "Besides, I want to tell him something. I just got an idea."  
  
Tatewaki Kuno met them halfway down the street, a box of chocolates in one hand, and a bouquet of red roses in the other. They met under a business shop's overhang. Ryouga gave a quick, short nod, and Kuno stopped and noted just whom he was with. "Well met, Wanderer. And you, as well, Tendo Nabiki. How fare the two of you on this good night?"  
  
"Hey, Kuno, lookin' good! What's up? Who are those chocolates for?" Ryouga asked, pleasantly.  
  
"Ah. These sweets are for the similarly sweet, yet fierce, Tendo Akane, so that my love for her would be signified by the taste of yon pastries upon her gentle lips. She loves me well; this is the least of many gifts I shall shower her with."  
  
Ryouga sniffed with a practiced nose. "Truffles?"  
  
"How didst thou know?"  
  
"Er." Ryouga bit his lip, and Nabiki laughed. "I'm a good guesser. Akane doesn't like truffles, though. She's allergic."  
  
"What?" Kuno looked down at the heart shaped box of candies. "Art thou sure?"  
  
"It's true, Kuno-baby. She puffs up like a balloon when she eats truffles." Nabiki pointed out, straight faced.  
  
"Tis a tragedy, then - a sad fit of circumstance!"  
  
"I'll take them off your hands, Kuno-baby!" Nabiki grabbed the small box of candy. Kuno was about to ask them back when the Tendo girl interrupted him. "Are those roses for the pigtailed girl?"  
  
"Ah... they are." Kuno took in a deep breath. "Yes, for the pigtailed girl is like a rose, so delicate, and yet so strong..."  
  
"She prefers lilies, I hear." Ryouga looked over his shoulder. "In fact, when I went to pick Nabiki up, I overheard Ranma saying that he was going to buy her some himself."  
  
"The Sorcerer dares seduce my pigtailed goddess?" Kuno started to shake with indignation.  
  
"Well, he did mention ringing in the New Year with her..." Ryouga answered, straight faced.  
  
"And drowning in her passionate caresses," Nabiki added in.  
  
Kuno reached for his bokken, teeth clenched. "I shall punish him!"  
  
"Here. Lemme hold those for ya." Ryouga took the bouquet of roses, and Kuno raced off towards the Tendo Dojo, a righteous fury now thoroughly stoked and burning in his mind. As he vanished, Ryouga sighed, and shook his head. "I almost feel sorry doing that."  
  
"I thought you hated Ranma." Nabiki opened the box, and popped a single black chocolate into her mouth.  
  
"I meant I almost felt sorry for Kuno." Ryouga looked at the roses, fought down his nervousness, and handed them over to her, using his best Kuno-impersonation. "For, ah... the capitalistic brown-eyed goddess, Nabiki Tendo. I would date with thee."  
  
"That's terrible." She took the roses, and the two laughed. "You make an awful Kuno, Ryouga."  
  
"It's the thought that counts." Her arm snaked out to interlock with his own and he felt a new flush of heat rise in his cheeks. "Are... are those any good?"  
  
"Sure. Want one?" Nabiki held up one of the little chocolates.  
  
Ryouga took it from her, their hands brushing for a second, and ate it. Chocolate he didn't particularly like, but recently he'd had an unusual attraction to truffles. Combined with Ranma's recent obsession with getting ice cream in his female form led the lost boy to wonder just what kind of influence his cursed form was having, or could be having, on his normal body. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but luckily, it came and went quickly. There'd be time to worry about it later, anyway. Ryouga licked his lips, getting a stray bit of chocolate off his upper lip.  
  
"Not bad," he finally decided on saying.  
  
The two walked in silence for a few steps, before Nabiki spoke up, "What was it you wanted to tell him, anyway?"  
  
"Kuno?"  
  
Nabiki nodded.  
  
"Oh. Well, right now, Mousse and Ukyou are off playing with Saotome." Ryouga smiled, though it wasn't particularly friendly. "It's the reason I didn't feel the need to pound him earlier. I knew he'd be getting his in a few minutes anyway. I figured that throwing Kuno into the mix couldn't hurt... anyone except Ranma, that is."  
  
"And if he's in his girl form?"  
  
"I hadn't thought of that... but it's not likely. Mousse and Ukyou should stay away from the Koi pond, for obvious reasons, and keep it in the Dojo." He saw the disapproving look in her eyes. "I also told them to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. So they came up with a plan to trap him there and catch him off guard."  
  
"They better. Or you'll be paying for it!" Nabiki scowled. "And I can't believe you..."  
  
"What? Planned an attack on your future brother-in-law?" Ryouga rolled his eyes.  
  
"It doesn't strike me as particularly honorable," Nabiki said, honestly.  
  
Ryouga's eyes became dangerously narrow. "Honor...? No. I suppose it isn't honorable. However, neither is it honorable to abandon one's friends. Mousse and Ukyou have no chance of beating Ranma in an honest fight. No matter how much they train... so do I have a problem with what they're doing? No. No... I don't. So long as it brings them happiness."  
  
"And if they beat him?"  
  
"What do I care if they do?" Something in Ryouga's voice indicated to her that what he had just said had some hidden meaning. "Besides, I have serious doubts that they have the stomach to do what needs to be done. That's why I'm here."  
  
"You don't mean..."  
  
He looked at her cautiously. "I mean... making Ranma miserable, of course. It's what I do. It's who I am. I said I was going to destroy his happiness, and I will."  
  
Nabiki frowned, disapproving. "All because of some stupid bread?"  
  
Ryouga stopped walking, and Nabiki got jerked back a bit, her arm still in his.  
  
"What?" She asked.  
  
"It's not the bread," Ryouga's voice was cold. "Nabiki... Ranma knocked me into the Heituenniichuan. The spring of drowned piglet! He ruined my life several times over! I'll never forgive what he did to me. Never."  
  
"And where do you think this feud is going to get you, hmm?" Nabiki gave his arm a hard shake. "What do you want to get out of it?"  
  
"Revenge!"  
  
"Where's the profit in that?"  
  
"I... I," he stuttered. "I don't know. I don't know, Nabiki. This is just something I have to do. If I don't settle things with him, I swear, I'm going to explode. I've trained and worked and bled for too much for it to come to nothing. Maybe I can't explain it that well, but..."  
  
Nabiki sighed. "Alright. All right. I get the idea."  
  
"Good," Ryouga didn't say anymore on the topic.  
  
"Now, can we get to the movie before it starts?"  
  
"Um... sure. You'll... er... lead the way," he mumbled a bit, and Nabiki dragged him off.  
  
"Baka."  
  
***  
  
"Got 'im! Now, sugar!"  
  
"Die, Saotome!" Mousse flipped in the air, raining down nets on the pinned down pigtailed one. Busy grappling with Ukyou, he looked up just as the interlaced nets widened and began to descend on him, like a cloud. Cursing silently, he overpowered Ukyou, and broke her grip on her megaspatula by twisting it and throwing her over his shoulder. Without hesitating, Ranma spun, and threw the large bladed weapon up and into the nets, putting a bit of a spin on it as to catch and tangle the nets before they could do the same to him.   
  
"Damn it!" Ukyou balled her fists, and watched as her weapon fell to the ground, now tangled beyond quick recovery. Unarmed combat had never really been her forte, and though Ranma-chan wasn't as strong as Ranma-kun, she still out-muscled her by a fair margin, and worse, Ranma-chan was ridiculously fast. Mousse landed, and sensing her hesitation, closed the distance with Ranma with a flourish of weapons and barehanded attacks. He had a significant reach advantage, this much was obvious, but Ranma's technique was much more fluid and flexible, and her speed was much greater. Mousse was hard pressed to hold his own, much less do any real damage.  
  
Ukyou made a quick decision, and lunged for her weapon.   
  
"Halt, varlet!"  
  
Ukyou stopped, her feet skidding on the floor of the dojo, and looked up.  
  
"Kuno!" She frowned. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"How dare thou assault the pigtailed girl?"  
  
"Jackass. Ranma is your enemy too!"  
  
"I see not the foul sorcerer Saotome present; only a duo of fiends attacking the most healthy and vibrant of wildflowers. I won't allow it!" Kuno's bokken swung in a swift, downward arc.   
  
Ukyou acted quickly, rolling to the side. "What are you doing, you ...you moron?!"  
  
"Stand still and let me vanquish thee!"  
  
To her side, Mousse crashed to the ground, but rolled and got back to his feet, claws drawn and ready. He spat a bit of blood. "Is that all you've got, Saotome!? Come on! COME ON!!"  
  
"Strike Strike Strike Strike Strike Strike!!"  
  
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!!"  
  
  
  
"Four Bomb!!"  
  
"Nihao!"  
  
"Shampoo! Help me out here!"  
  
"Shampoo?! Where?!"  
  
"Ah... yon purple haired vixen would challenge the Blue Thunder? Very well, if you defeat me, I shall date with thee!"  
  
"Shampoo! I love you!"  
  
"Get off me, you jackass! I'm not Shampoo!"  
  
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"  
  
"Sweeto!"  
  
"Keep it down out there, damn it!"  
  
***  
  
"Are you sure your father won't mind?"  
  
"Nah. He seems to like you."  
  
"I come in handy." Ryouga huffed up a bit. "He wants a rival for Ranma. I'm useful for that. He wanted someone to make Ranma jealous over Akane. I *was* useful for that. I don't think it's anything else."  
  
"You're too damn depressing, you know that?" Nabiki reprimanded him. "It gets annoying after a little while."  
  
"Does it, now? I'm a realist. It's the world that's depressing, not me." Ryouga's face was indifferent. "Actually, in a way, I consider myself sort of an optimist, too."  
  
"Yeah right."  
  
"It's true. When you're at the bottom of a cliff, what's the only way to look?"  
  
"Up... I guess."  
  
"Exactly. If I weren't an optimist, I'd have... done something hasty and unfortunate a long time ago." Still, Ryouga's face was unreadable. "Anyway... you're not exactly happy go lucky either, you know."  
  
"I'm content. ...Mostly." Nabiki looked away, up at the night sky. "I've got a family. Money. Good grades... Friends."  
  
"How is that, anyway? Having a family?"  
  
Nabiki gave him a disbelieving look. "What do you mean, how is it?"  
  
"Well... You know, I don't really have one. Not a normal family, anyway. Ukyou's my closest friend, and she barely talks to her family now. I don't really know a lot of people."  
  
"My family." Nabiki gave a short, quick laugh at the very thought. "My family is just... that. I live with them. Kasumi's nice, and Akane is fun to be around... or used to be... I don't really know. I don't have a lot in common with any of them, to tell the truth."  
  
"What do ya mean?"  
  
"Kasumi's just... not normal, really. She likes doing housework, and I can't stand it. She's... she's a little like mother, and I was never really all that close to her, either. We talk, but I really can't relate to her much. Akane and I used to be close, but then she really got into the Family School and martial arts, and everyone just seemed to love her. I mean, the second day she came to school, it was like, 'snap' and the whole school body became the Akane-obsessed."  
  
"Ignoring you, completely. I know how it feels, Nabiki. To be alone in a crowd."  
  
"Yeah." Nabiki looked down at her feet. "But even you were obsessed with her."  
  
"I suppose I was... before... everything. But that could have been anyone. If you had picked me up..."  
  
"What? You'd be sleeping with me every night?" Nabiki smiled, as the lost boy blushed and started to stammer.  
  
"Not... not every night! I... er... there's no real good side of this, is there?"  
  
"Pervert." She smacked him playfully on the chest. As they approached the outer wall, a strange stillness filled the air.  
  
"It's quiet. Too quiet," Ryouga said, in a conspiratorial tone. He swung open the dojo gate after Nabiki unlocked it, and came face to face with a very battered, tired, and angry Ranma-chan.  
  
"You... you!!" Ranma took a wobbly step forward.  
  
"Happy New Year, Saotome." Ryouga gently touched her shoulder, her clothes froze up, and he and Nabiki went into the house without another word. "I'll be in your room, Ranma, so why don't you just sleep outside today? Great! Thanks, buddy."  
  
Ranma grunted something incoherent from the floor. 


	9. Learning Curve part 9

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part IX (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner  
  
"I'll KILL him!" Ranma stormed into the Nekohanten.  
  
Shampoo was the only one up, and she rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them. "Kill who? Airen come see Shampoo? Shampoo very happy, but is very early."  
  
Ranma scowled. "Where's the old ghoul?"  
  
"She in back." Shampoo motioned with her hand, and locked the front door. They didn't open for two hours, and Shampoo couldn't be happier for that fact. The late night fight she'd gotten involved in had been tiring, and she'd had to drag Mousse back after Ranma finally knocked him unconscious. Fortunately, he'd been in his duck form, and hadn't been that hard to carry. He'd left miscellaneous weapons all over the Tendo dojo and yard, too, but those were his responsibility to clean up after. She'd only taken her home with her because Ukyou had asked, right before she'd passed out on the roof. The two of them had come out of the fight the worst, physically.  
  
Shampoo still owed that annoying stick-boy for last night, too. After Ranma-chan had been forced to turn her attentions to Happosai, and Mousse, and Ukyou, she'd been left alone trying to fend off his attacks. She had been weaponless, too, and no matter how often she beat him into the ground he got back up a few seconds later. It was almost like he had the endurance of the Bakusai Tenketsu training, though, fortunately, not the resistance to damage. Still, he'd been tenacious enough to be beyond annoying.   
  
"Ugh." Shampoo suddenly remembered that she was scheduled to participate in a Martial Arts Ping Pong Tournament later in the day. Right now, she was seriously considering skipping it entirely. Ranma was gone, already, and frankly, Shampoo was too tired to give a damn. It was something to deal with later. Going upstairs to her room, she tuned out, and went back to sleep. Downstairs, Ranma finally found the object of his search. Cologne studied him carefully, totally alert despite the time.  
  
"Yes, boy?"  
  
"I need trainin,' old ghoul." He paused. "And you're the best there is around here."  
  
"And why should I train you, hmm?" Cologne asked, frankly.  
  
"You trained him to beat me."  
  
"Only because it got me what I wanted. ...Or would have, anyway, had you not run away."  
  
"I didn't run away. It was the Saotome Secret Technique. It's based on the concepts of 'motion,' 'contemplation,' and 'opposition.'"  
  
"You ran away," Cologne said again, and he sighed in exasperation.  
  
"Ok, I ran away! Happy now?"  
  
"No."   
  
Cologne clasped her hands together and considered things. Her training of the lost boy had been twofold. Hibiki Ryouga was Ranma's contemporary, and showed a similarly exceptional skill for martial arts. Training him would both give her a connection to him that she could use later, with him as an ally, and when Shampoo came along, Cologne was quick to realize it could well bring those two together as well. Optimally, such an association would make Ranma more jealous, and allow the two to compete over her granddaughter instead of the violent Tendo girl. Either of them would be fine, and Shampoo would have the choice and the room to pick and choose at her leisure. It would also force them to grow dependant on her to advance their skill levels... once they began to grow familiar with the Amazon techniques, it was only a matter of time before they would want to join the tribe themselves, if only to keep close to the source of their martial arts improvement, and a desire not to be left behind.  
  
Ranma was easily the most naturally skilled young person, of either gender, that Cologne had seen in decades. He was incredibly fast, and his mind soaked up martial arts like a sponge. In typical male fashion, he was also greedy, rather short sighted, and dim witted - much like his father. This was both a good and bad thing. It was good, because he could be easily manipulated, and it was bad, because it was annoying and constantly grated on her nerves. Of course, when she heard from her great granddaughter that Hibiki Ryouga had returned, or was trying to, it made this meeting between them inevitable. Things were proceeding slowly, but they were proceeding as she had anticipated. They were both fools, but useful fools, especially if the situation she'd heard was developing in China turned sour.  
  
At that thought, she became slightly worried.   
  
"I will train you," she began. "And you... will date my great granddaughter, steadily, for so long as you remain under my tutelage."  
  
Ranma scratched his chin. "What's to keep you from dragging it out? Slowing things down, so I'm forced to date Shampoo longer than I should have to?"  
  
"Why..." She smiled. He was a little smarter than she thought. "Nothing, of course."  
  
Ranma's fists clenched. She had him backed into a corner, and they both knew it. After a few seconds of silence, Ranma leaned over, and looked her in the eyes. "Only if you make me good enough to win."  
  
Cologne blinked, slowly. "I think I can manage that."  
  
"I want your word."  
  
"You have my solemn word, as a Joketsuzoku Elder."  
  
"Good." Ranma stood back up. "Good."  
  
"Indeed," Cologne whispered, softly. "Things could hardly be better."  
  
***  
  
"How did I get into this mess?" Ranma thought, and not for the first time. He was, currently, trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Outside, a super strong Tendo Akane waited, less than patiently, for gods knew what. She had been taking advantage of her new strength not only to beat him down, of late, but also to avenge her past losses to Shampoo by challenging her to a round of 'Martial Arts Ping Pong.' It all sounded ridiculous, but then again, there were rumors going around of a 'Martial Arts Tea Ceremony' Dojo somewhere nearby, so nothing really surprised him anymore.   
  
Under the large iron bell that Shampoo was currently holding up over her head, said girl was looking at him with a mixture of annoyance, and something else, he wasn't sure what. If he had to wager a guess, Ranma figured it was probably simple confusion. Somehow, she'd gotten some of the Super Soba for herself, and the two women were about to tear the town apart with their bare hands by batting multi-ton shrine bells around. Needless to say, the whole situation was... what was that American word: whacked? Ranma rubbed his temples in frustration, and reached into his left pocket, taking out a tiny radish.  
  
Luckily, there was a simple and easily acquired antidote to the Super Soba. There were also side effects to said super-noodles, yes, that he'd personally prefer neither girl had, but those concerns were secondary. It was a matter of pride - and the hurt of said pride in the face of being humiliated by Akane over the last day and a half. It was time to put an end to it, so he could concentrate on more important things, namely his training to beat the Lost Boy and regain his rightful place as the strongest and greatest in Nerima. Akane could grow whiskers until she tripped on them. His greatest concern was to put things back into their place, restore the proper status quo, and make damn sure things stayed there.   
  
Ranma had to be the best; he HAD to be!  
  
"Shampoo!" Ranma smiled, brightly. "Open wide, please."  
  
Shampoo walked over, batted her eyes, and opened her mouth obediently.  
  
"There's a good girl." Ranma popped the little radish into her mouth, and instantly her arms gave out, and the bell fell down behind her, trapping them under it.   
  
"Now, for a certain kawaiikune tomboy..." Ranma went over to the edge and dug his fingers just barely under the edge of the massive iron bell. Slowly, he started to lift the massive weight, before his arms fatigued and he fell back, breathing heavily. He heard Shampoo come up from behind, and felt her small, but still strong hands on his shoulders.  
  
"Now Airen and Shampoo all along in dark." She crawled up to him and purred in his ear. "You kiss Shampoo?"  
  
"Ahh..." Ranma looked from her, to where he knew Akane was standing, on the other side of the iron. He spoke more loudly, "AH! Shampoo! Don't touch me THERE!"  
  
Instantly, he grabbed Shampoo's head, and ducked. Inches from where their faces had both been, something hard and heavy cut through the air ...and half the iron bell they were trapped under. Akane was livid with rage, now, and trembling. "Rrraaannmmaa! What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Nothing!" He jumped up, casually, taking out another of the antidote radishes. "Say 'aah.'"  
  
"Aah." Akane opened her mouth, but clamped her jaws shut a heartbeat before he could pop the little vegetable into her mouth. "What was that?"  
  
Ranma shrugged, as if it was nothing at all. "The antidote."  
  
"Oh no you don't! You're just jealous because I'm stronger than you!"  
  
That was true, but Ranma didn't say as much. It was really the noodles he was jealous of, not her. "You'll be sorry if you don't eat the antidote."  
  
"Yeah, right!" Akane rolled her eyes. "I'm finally strong and you want me to just give it up? Never! You'll have to defeat me in combat first!"  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed, for only a millisecond. Akane was stronger than him, true, but she was still far slower, clumsier, less experienced and less resistant to damage than Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse, or even Kuno. She was also a girl, AND his fiancée. Had she been a boy, Ranma would have already demonstrated that strength wasn't everything by reducing him to little bits of idiot strewn around the district. Saotome Ranma had very little patience for this sort of situation. However, given who and what she was, a more ...shrewd method was required to get the job done.  
  
"Then I challenge you to a game of Martial Arts Ping Pong!"  
  
"I accept!" Akane turned, and jumped off the roof, heading towards the ring a couple hundred feet away. Ranma was about to follow her, when, by chance, something unusual caught his eye. There was a bowl just sitting there, on the far side of the roof. Walking over to it, he was joined by Shampoo. She picked it up, looked inside, and shook her head.  
  
"Super Soba all gone. Stupid Happosai! Shampoo going make him make more!" Shampoo threw aside the bowl, and jumped off in some general direction, presumably to look for the ancient pervert. Ranma looked down at the bowl. It wasn't one of theirs, which meant Happosai probably stole it.  
  
"No surprise there." Ranma looked more closely, and saw that there was still a fair amount of crust in a ring along the sides of the bowl, and on the bottom. Neurons traded electrons a couple thousand million times, and an idea slowly but surely began to form. Jumping down, he ducked into a store, and in a few minutes, came out with a small plastic vial full of brownish looking water.   
  
It didn't look pleasant, but Ranma was sure that, if drunk, it would achieve something similar, though watered down, to eating the magical Soba. And even if it only provided a fraction of the strength that Shampoo and Akane got, it would go a good way towards evening the gap between Ryouga and himself in the raw muscle department.  
  
Then again, in a (rare) moment of moral indecision, Ranma realized that taking the drink to get stronger would be undermining everything he'd worked for, and believed in. Strength didn't come from potions, or magic, or anything like that... it came from hard work and training. He knew that. Ryouga knew that. Or did he? Ryouga had been willing to accept 'steroids' from Nabiki, back when they'd had their first Nerima Duel. Maybe he'd done something similar while he was away, in which case, Ranma taking the distilled Essence of Super Soba would only be fair. He'd only be catching up. Then again, even if Ryouga had done that, and he really doubted that the lost boy would, would that make it any more right to take it himself and sink to that level.  
  
Two wrongs, one right, and all that.  
  
Was he really that desperate?  
  
Ryouga was already nearly impossible to put down without hitting him hundreds of times in the same spot, and even then, recently, that tactic had fallen short of the lost boy's newer levels of damage resistance. What if, in not taking a sip from this bit of liquid, he lost the match? He'd be humbled, in an official, public duel, in front of everyone, all because he chosen the morally acceptable route instead of the alternative. Ranma pondered this. His father had been adamant in saying that the point of fighting is to win.  
  
'Any Victory is better than Any Defeat.'  
  
That was the credo of the Saotome School.  
  
Any Victory.  
  
No matter the cost.  
  
Ranma swirled the liquid around in the vial.  
  
No matter the cost.  
  
All he'd have to do is pop the cork and drink it.  
  
No matter the cost.  
  
There was always the antidote, anyway, if he changed his mind. Right? And he could shave every day or so; that way no one would be the wiser, if it even had that effect on men. This could save his life, if Ryouga was really out to kill him like he now suspected. Memories of the night before, the humiliation of the previous two fights, all came to Ranma at once. Victory was what he craved! Victory is what would make everything right again in the world - he was sure of it!  
  
No matter the cost.  
  
It might not even do anything... much.  
  
No matter the cost?  
  
"Ranma!" Akane loudly interrupted his thoughts. "Are you coming or not?!"  
  
"Uh... yeah." Ranma quickly put the vial into a hidden pocket, and went to get some cold water and a change of clothes. He wasn't about to drink it, not now, but he wasn't about to throw it away either. He wasn't like Akane, or even Shampoo. He had to win: had to defeat Ryouga with his own strength, not power borrowed from magic. That sort of victory was hollow and petty. It wasn't worthy of this fight, this duel... this feud. Of this, Ranma was certain.  
  
***  
  
Ryouga's laughter was a deep bass rumble that chilled the flesh down to the bone. His eyes flashed, and for a moment, disappeared into an abyss of white, like an alien sea. His hand moved, almost lazily, to the side, and destruction followed in its wake, tearing the ground at Ranma's feet into shreds of grass and earth. Ranma felt himself involuntarily step back, wavering, fighting his urge to run. Ryouga just seemed amused.  
  
"Go ahead and run, Saotome," he spoke, his tone promising only death.  
  
Ranma could feel his body shaking.  
  
"Run, Ranma. Run away!" His mouth moved into a bemused smirk. "I'll catch you eventually anyway."  
  
He took a step forward, and the ground trembled to the heat of Ranma's heart.  
  
"I always do." Another step, the soft earth splintering at his passing. "I always will."  
  
"Stay back!" Ranma got back into a fighting stance. His muscles burnt from exhaustion, and his lower back threatened to give out completely.  
  
Ryouga just laughed. It was a cold, heartless laughter that only hinted at an insanity grounded in the deepest of hatred. He kept approaching; his footsteps now more like thunderclaps, growing steadily louder and louder. After one or two, they became deafening... almost drowning out thought itself. Ranma concentrated, and looked for a weakness, but there was none. It seemed the whole planet was trembling now, beneath his feet, as if on the verge of falling apart at the seams. Ryouga was massive, too, and as he shook his head back and forth, lazily, dark shapes fell to the ground, slowly coalescing into creatures with legs and claws and fangs.  
  
"You're a coward, boy!" His voice seemed to merge with Genma's. "Everyone knows it, except you."  
  
"N... no!" Ranma looked at his hands - they looked so small, now. Then he realized he was too small, like a boy, and there were sausages and fish cakes and sardines strung and tied around his arms and legs. The terror rose, like bile, and Ranma had to remember to breathe. Only when the sounds started, that horrible hungry mewing, and the barely audible scraping of claws, did Ranma see them, around Ryouga's feet, crawling towards him, eyes glowing like tiny demons.  
  
'Kill them!' Something primal from within screamed. 'Kill them!!'  
  
There was a wave, a great tidal wave that blocked out the sky and the cats were everywhere - fur and claws and teeth and blood and pain. And the only other sound, the only sound that kept him anything near sane, was the laughter. It was Ryouga's laughter, as mirthless and cold as Lake Baikal, and coming from every direction. Moments of madness came and passed, like rapid fire switches, and Ranma saw himself tearing at the little demons, ripping them in half, and screaming: screaming until his lungs hurt and his mouth was dry as the desert and it seemed like he'd never taste air again.  
  
And then, when there was only a sea of blood and ragged fur decorating the world, from horizon to horizon, he stood at the laughing demon, and source of his horror. A voice, kind and gentle, maybe his mother's, told him, 'Kill this thing. Kill him and be a Man.'  
  
So Ranma attacked.  
  
Ryouga still laughed, even as the claws of the Neko-ken cut into his body, carving his skin and shredding it into the winds. He laughed, even as Ranma tore out his eyes. He laughed, and with a single motion too swift to be believed, except for the cyclone of pain it left in its wake, Ryouga smashed him to the ground. And there were suddenly eyes everywhere, and voices, talking and laughing. A heavy boot, like a mountain range squeezed into a footprint, crushed his back, and Ranma couldn't feel his legs.  
  
"I'm only playing with you. You're a little toy to me!" Ryouga's voice returned, and Ranma twisted just enough to see the dark flames of Ki around his nemesis seep into his wounds, sealing them up in seconds. The laughter returned, and reverberated, and was joined by so many others it was impossible to distinguish. It was as if every voice, and every eye, was on him, and reveling in his humiliation.  
  
"Go home to your mommy, boy!" Genma-Ryouga spoke, and the others were silent, if only for a moment. "Though I doubt she'll stomach a weakling like you in Her House."  
  
"I'm... I'm not weak," Ranma spat, in defiance, and the boot rose, only to come down just below his shoulder blades, crushing his spine into a broken mess, and paralyzing him for life.  
  
"No. I suppose not. You're pathetic."  
  
"No." The tears came, and his lips stopped working properly, preferring to make gurgling noises. No. No. NO. NO! NO!!!  
  
"NO!" Ranma bolted upright, drenched in sweat. He looked around in the dark; his eyes only slightly adjusted to the darkness, and saw only his room. To his right, Genma lay, for once in his human form, peacefully sleeping, again, for once. Normally, his old man, now often a Panda, snored like he had a community of gnomes living in his nose who only mined at night. Ranma looked at his hands, and saw that his own nails scraped the insides of his palms, probably while he was sleeping. Slowly composing himself, Ranma got up, and went to the bathroom.  
  
The cold water that ran over his hands almost made Ranma flinch, but he held them under the stream of ice-cold tap water. Looking at himself in the mirror, he noted the circles around his eyes, and cursed under his breath. He hadn't been sleeping that much to begin with, in an effort to improve his endurance, and when he did, the nightmares came full force. Tonights had just been the worst, yet. The ones before were generally subtler.  
  
"Bwee."  
  
"Nani?" Ranma looked down, under the sink, and saw something small and black. Kneeling, he saw the black piglet, and narrowed his eyes. It was minus the bandanna, but it looked identical to Ryouga's cursed form. A moment of annoyance, and even anger, came and went, when he looked into the creature's eyes. It wasn't Ryouga. It wasn't even human. It was just some poor animal. Mousse or Ukyou had probably used it as a lure, and then been unable to find it after the fight last night. He held out his hand, and the piglet tensed to run.   
  
"Come on." Ranma showed it his open palm, and the piglet sniffed it quickly, and relaxed a bit. Ranma sighed, and picked the little pig up - it obviously seemed relieved and relaxed instantly into his arm, which was amazing in and of itself, because animals of all types generally didn't like him that much. Looking at it, Ranma scratched behind the piglet's left ear. "Maybe I should give you to Akane. What do you think of that, hmm?"  
  
"Qee!" It looked up at him, and blinked.  
  
Ranma considered what he had just said. The pig seemed nice enough, and it was, after all, just an animal. It might even make up for how he'd treated her earlier, when after curing her of the Super Soba, he beat her a dozen times or so in arm wrestling, just to make sure that he was back to form, and in their normal roles. At the time, it had just been natural... a way to take out the stress of before, but in retrospect, she hadn't been very friendly (not that she usually was anyway) the rest of the day. And, of course, Nabiki and Kasumi hadn't been too approving of his behavior, either. Luckily, Soun just seemed happy his daughter wouldn't be competing with him in the facial hair department.  
  
Before Ranma really knew what he was doing, he had already tapped lightly on Akane's door. When he realized it, really realized where he was and what he was doing, he almost left. Maybe Akane would have just thought she imagined it? Too late for him to make a run for it the door cracked open and a pair of blue-black eyes caught his in the darkness.  
  
"Ranma?" The eyes blinked, sleepily. She obviously wasn't very alert or awake. Then again, who would be this early in the morning?  
  
"Um..." He looked away from her eyes, and held out the piglet. "Here."  
  
She blinked again, the sleep quickly leaving her features, though they were still largely obscured by darkness. "Is... P-chan? Is that...?"  
  
"It ain't Ryouga. That idiot Mousse tried to trick me by usin' him. He was wandering around. And I kind of thought you might, um... want a pet or something." Ranma realized he was babbling, so he just held out his hands a little further.  
  
The pig looked up at Akane. Slowly, she reached out and took him into her arms, while stepping more into the light from the hallway. The animal seemed to settle into her comfortably. Ranma figured his former owner, before either Mousse or Ukyou picked him up, had probably held him like that. Akane smiled, warmly, first to the pig, and then to him.  
  
"Thanks. Ranma," she began, and blushed a bit, though it was nearly impossible to see.  
  
Ranma saw.  
  
"No problem." He suddenly felt uncomfortable and self-conscious. "Sorry about waking you up... but, you know, I'm no good with animals, and..."  
  
"I understand," she cut him off. They stood in silence for what seemed like hours, before Akane licked her dry lips, and rubbed one of her eyes. "I'll see you in the morning, Ranma."  
  
"Y... Yeah."  
  
"G'night." She closed the door, and Ranma was alone in the hallway - only himself, and his thoughts.  
  
"G'night. ...Akane," he said to no one save himself. "You looked... nice..."  
  
***  
  
Ryouga blinked a few times and scrunched his eyes carefully with two fingers to get the sleep out of them. It wasn't often, really, that he was so rudely woken up. Worse still, he had been having a pleasant dream about Nabiki and... a trickle of blood ran down his upper lip from his left nostril. Brushing it away with the thumb of his free hand, he licked the blood off his finger and wiped it off on his shirt. Looking down the expanse of his arm, at the latest target of his ire, he sighed.  
  
"What kind of a life is this, anyway?"  
  
He didn't get an answer. But that was all right with the lost boy. He doubted anyone really had an answer to that query that he would like. In the distance, a car drove by, the sound of its passing filling the air. One of many that night. An old rail yard wasn't Ryouga's idea of the nicest place to stay, not just because of the noise, but it also lacked a certain ambiance. A certain atmosphere.   
  
But he wasn't choosey.   
  
"You know..." He said, looking around. "This place does seem kind of familiar..."  
  
Then again, a lot of places were 'very familiar' to him in Tokyo. Another car drove by, more slowly this time, its headlights briefly illuminating the windows above them. He had probably wandered through here once or twice over the years, but this was definitely the first time he'd set up camp for the night. Ryouga, as a rule, preferred to camp out in parks when in a city. Barring that, a rooftop was often acceptable. As a very last resort, he part with a little money and get a room at a local motel. However, this night, even that hadn't been an option.  
  
"Anyway. You caught me at a bad time." Ryouga explained, voice calm but obviously tired. "And in a bad mood." His grip tightened a fraction. "I didn't realize that my presence here was unacceptable. You have my... apologies."  
  
Letting go of the man's neck, in what seemed like slow motion to his battle honed senses, Ryouga touched the man's shoulder while still in midair. Pushing just with his wrist, the lost boy sent the man spinning like a top through the air, landing in a crumpled heap ten feet away. Slowly, he then looked down at the cigarette lighter in his other hand.   
  
"Your friend was going to burn me with this?" Ryouga took a step forward. The two other men nearby both took steps back. Still in a foul mood, Ryouga hardly hesitated, and his left arm became a blur. Instantly, one of the men fell to the ground, howling like an animal and clutching his face. His knife, a sad little thing, fell to the dusty ground without a sound. Joining it on the ground, the man tried desperately to get the broken bits of the lighter out of the side of his face, while trying to keep the lighter fluid out of his eyes.  
  
The last of the three tried to run.  
  
He got ten steps before Ryouga crossed the distance and caught up, picking him up by the belt and dumping him on the ground. Standing over him, Ryouga watched as the man reached for the lead pipe he'd just dropped. The lost boy waited, waited, until he almost had it in his hand, before stepping down, fast as lightning. The sound of the man's wrist breaking was almost music to his ears.   
  
"I reserve my hate for Saotome Ranma. It is his fault I'm here. But you..." Ryouga sneered. "You just sicken me. I hope you didn't expect mercy. HE might have shown you some, but I am not him. I don't care about you."  
  
"W... W... wait man..."  
  
"Oh?" Ryouga paused. "This now, when just a minute ago you were saying something about... Now, what did you say again?"  
  
"I don't ... don't... I dunno..."  
  
"Something about me being a hobo... a drunken wino fouling up the fine streets of the Japanese capital?" Ryouga finally took his foot off the man's broken wrist. "Now. That's no reason to kill someone. I should know. I'm planning on killing someone, and I have a much better reason for it."  
  
The man rolled over into a ball, holding his right arm protectively. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit shit... not me, please not me..."  
  
  
  
Ryouga laughed softly. "As if I would kill you! Normally, I can't stand those that pick on the weak. Which was exactly what you were planning on doing. If you had been luckier, I would've actually been a defenseless hobo, and you could have had a nice little cookout with him. So naturally, I had to teach you a lesson: know who you're going to kill before you commit to it."  
  
"You... You're not going to kill me?" The man seemed not to have heard anything except that part. Ryouga sighed and shook his head.  
  
"OH... oh thank you! Thank you!"   
  
Ryouga watched, impassive, as the man sobbed and thanked him. Oh, he had thought about killing all three of them when what they were planning on doing registered in the lost boy's mind. But there was no need, and little justification. Luckily, even in his sleep, his martial artist's sixth sense had warned him, and he'd gotten out of the tent just after the fools started spraying it down with some sort of bug spray.   
  
Now it smelled funny.  
  
Ignoring the three beaten men, Ryouga walked to his tent and started packing things up. There was nothing to gain by lingering. He still didn't know where he was exactly, but it was still Tokyo - for that bit of information, at least, he could thank the three morons that had tried to do him in. He watched, cautiously, as the man who had the lighter thrown at him stumbled off, groping the wall blindly and abandoning his unconscious friend to help the one with the broken wrist. Finishing packing up his things a few minutes after the two left, Ryouga hefted his bag and went on his way.  
  
But the experience had left him shaken.  
  
Why had those three men been out to kill someone they didn't even know? He couldn't fathom the thinking of it. Logically, the three of them must have hated the homeless in the city and thus decided to do something about it. Yet those three didn't seem the most rational people in Japan, and that was hardly an excuse to kill someone.   
  
What excuse did he have?  
  
Ranma. Ranma. Ranma. Thoughts of the pigtailed boy haunted him, consumed him. They drove him to heights of martial arts and lows of humanity. Ryouga remembered when he had met Ukyou, soon after the Bakusai Tenketsu fight... he had been so bitter, so angry, so resentful that he hadn't thought twice about encouraging her to find and punish Ranma. He had told her about Ranma's curse, his habits, his strengths and weaknesses... He had known, even then, what it wasn't the honorable thing to do. It wasn't the right thing to do. As much of a lout Ranma was, he would NEVER have done the same in Ryouga's position.  
  
Why did Ranma have to die?  
  
Wandering the streets, he pondered this from a new angle. From a new light. From a fresh perspective. He needed his revenge, for every insult, spoken and unspoken. This was the core of his hatred, and the power of purpose that forced his hand. Ranma had to die, because Hibiki Ryouga could not live in the same world as that man. He could not. He would not!  
  
Why?  
  
It taxed him to think why, and not completely cloud it with anger. Immediately, Akane and P-chan came to mind. Ranma treated Akane terribly... harshly... unkindly... Well, he treated her no better than his father, or Soun, or anyone else. It was no excuse, but it was simple fact. Ranma just wasn't very personable. Much like himself, Ryouga hated to admit. The pig curse, of course, Ranma was directly responsible for. Yet, at the same time, Ryouga was himself indirectly responsible for it. Of the two, more fault had to lie with Ranma. That, then, must have been the 'why.'  
  
He hated Ranma because of the pig curse.  
  
Somewhat satisfied with that answer, Ryouga concentrated on his walking and the pacing of his steps. Streetlights cast his shadow long and dark along his path, and Ryouga found himself wishing for the dawn. Looking down at his hand, at his fist, he saw not the hand of a young man, not even eighteen... he saw the hand of a man who held the life of another in its grip. To kill or not to kill. So far, he had adhered to the latter.   
  
"I hate Ranma because of the pig curse." He said to himself, knowing already that it was a lie. He would not kill someone for something so superficial. The curse had done nothing to endear Ranma to him, most certainly not, but killing... Oh, what a lamentable and immutable step that was! If Genma had knocked him in (and in reality Ranma's old man was also somewhat responsible) would Ryouga have wanted to murder him?  
  
... No.  
  
And that simple revelation shook Ryouga to the core.   
  
"The bread... the teasing... everything..." Ryouga hissed under his breath. These were all superficial reasons. Why? Why kill this man?! "Why?"  
  
"WHY?!?"   
  
He must die.  
  
"If he is to die, I must know why. I must understand." Ryouga rubbed his eyes, still feeling tired. Ranma had gotten him lost, on purpose no doubt, and here he was. Miserable as always. This must be the reason. Ranma brought him nothing but misery. Remembering the climax to the Bakusai Tenketsu fight, Ryouga saw again the two of them falling off that cliff. He saw again that moment, that time he had... it was more than enough to drive his belt sword into Ranma's back... why did he hesitate? Why did he forgive those offenses? Why did reason after reason to kill that man get struck down?  
  
Why did Ranma still haunt him?  
  
Why did his presence still fill the lost boy with rage? For the last eight months, he had spent the better part of his time under the blinding, comforting mist of hatred - of vengeance - driving every action and reaction. Why, damn it?!  
  
"I hate Ranma. I hate him... I hate him..." Ryouga tried to answer, tried to understand. "Akane... he cost me Akane. Yet, I cost myself Akane. She treated me like a pet when I behaved like one. I treated her like an object, when she wasn't one. Akane wanted Ranma..."  
  
"The curse. I hate the curse... that damn body... Ranma scarred me for life." Ryouga pondered that. "Yet, Ranma also has a curse. Not as bad as mine, but it was certainly something. And the way he flaunts it, uses it..."  
  
Eyes widening, Ryouga paused in his steps. Directly under a streetlight, his shadow lay only beneath his feet. Slowly, horribly, it came to him. "I hate Ranma... because... because..."  
  
Why?  
  
"Because he's like me." Ryouga's face became a scowl. "A better me..."  
  
He denied it at first. He was nothing like Ranma! Nothing... Holding his head, Ryouga wrestled with the very notion and tried to disprove it. The curse! He and Ranma both had them, but his was worse. He could only use his to demean himself. Ranma used his to get what he wanted, be it free food, a refreshing swim, or an excuse to fight back against women like Kodachi and Shampoo. There was no redeeming quality to turning into a piglet... not anymore...  
  
Even in Martial arts! Despite his recent victory, Ryouga knew Ranma was more than a rival... When he had seen him, in junior high school, Ryouga had known that he was a threat. Back then, the only good thing about school was the role Ryouga had made for himself. He was the strongest, the toughest, and in many ways the meanest... no one made fun of him when he was around, and when weaker kids were being bullied, he stepped in and helped them. In that way, he had some small role to play that he could be proud of, and some tiny sliver of pride in himself.   
  
But Ranma... was better... Ranma took his role, just like he took his bread, and cast him aside. Even without intending it. Ranma, too, interceded to help others, and the fights between the two boys over the bread only proved what Ryouga had known, even back then: that Ranma was better than him. Ranma didn't get lost. He was more reliable. People *liked* him! And without his role, Ryouga was nothing but trash; his pride and respect little more than hollowed out wrappers on the cafeteria floor.  
  
Ranma: who spent his life wandering around. Of everyone, Ranma could understand what it was like to be rootless, but he had his father. Ryouga had no one. Always, always, Ranma could rely on his father to be there for him. Even if Genma abused his role as father, as he had heard horror stories about, Ryouga still felt the bloody pang of jealousy, because he knew that for every bad moment, there had to be hundreds of happy ones. Moments of joy, training, learning, playing, that Ryouga would never know.   
  
Ranma was his better. So long as Ranma lived, there could be no place for Ryouga in the world. Holding the lamppost next to him, Ryouga remembered the fight he'd just been involved in. Ranma... Ranma would have been gentler with those scumbags. Ranma would have just knocked them out, like Ryouga knew he could have, but chose not to. Ranma... was the better man. He had everything Ryouga ever wanted, and he was everything Ryouga was, but more!   
  
That was why...!  
  
That was why he had to die.  
  
"It is impossible to undo what was done, to un-become what we are. A man like me cannot change." Ryouga growled, and clenched his fist. The lamppost creaked and deformed in his hand, before he let go. "This is what I am. This is who I am. And it must be something... I will not become nothing...."  
  
Defeat Ranma. Become the best.   
  
That was the only possible course of action.   
  
Ryouga clenched his fist tightly, and felt the power flow through his body. It felt overwhelming... intoxicating... Closing his eyes, he enjoyed it, far more than he would ever admit. It was beyond impossible to go back now, just as it was impossible to live with himself if he did nothing. He would defeat Ranma. He would ... kill him... and then he would be somebody. Because if Ranma lived and lost, then he would only challenge him again and again, and sooner or later, the pigtailed boy would win. And no one, ever, would know happiness or permanence. No!  
  
One of them had to die.  
  
"Ranma..." Ryouga slowly smiled. "You will either kill me, and become worse than me... or you will die. Either way, Hibiki Ryouga wins!"  
  
And he laughed, long and loud.  
  
***  
  
Ranma  
  
I told him to get lost.  
  
Well, to be more exact, I made him get lost. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The bastard had it coming, really, after that stunt he pulled for New Year's. I couldn't let it go unanswered, so I lured him out of his house, pissed him off, and ran like hell. He was actually catching up on me, even though I had a good head start on him, when I ducked into a shopping center. Next thing I know, he's gone.   
  
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Get the directionally challenged idiot lost for almost two weeks and make sure the duel didn't take place before my training with Cologne was finished, or near-finished. I didn't expect anything more would come from it - then, when Nabiki heard about it, she slapped me. I honestly couldn't believe it. True, it wasn't like Kasumi did it, but Nabiki... who expected it from her? The stupid pig-boy must've grown on her or something. I actually thought she'd be happy, because it'd force me to keep paying her according to our 'deal' from before.  
  
Even Akane didn't understand! Damn that kawaiikune tomboy! I swear, every time I think she starts to understand how I feel, or who and what I am, she proves me wrong! Its not like I'm going out with Shampoo because I want to. It's a means to an end, and a way to pacify the old ghoul so I can keep training. Hell, I even tried explaining it, but she refused to listen. This whole fiancée thing is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.  
  
Akane  
  
Baka!  
  
That baka! I can't believe he'd go steady with Shampoo, just to train with her great grandmother! How could he just turn his back on me... my school like that? He sleeps under our roof, eats our food, barely even goes to school anymore, and acts like he'd king of the place. Every day, he comes back tired and beaten, barely says a word to anyone, eats something, and goes to sleep. He barely even looks at me anymore!   
  
It's not like I like him or anything.  
  
No. I never liked him. Of course not. But he was nice to have around, once in a blue moon, and sometimes he was handy for beating up Kuno or whatever. I never liked him, understand, but he was fun to be around sometimes. But... I miss him in school. I miss him at home. Can't he see that I'm worried about him? He must know. All he's doing is feeding Ryouga's anger. He's going to try and kill you Ranma! He needs a friend! He needs a family! Not an enemy! Ranma... talk to me... walk with me...  
  
Not that I like him that way!   
  
Just... the Principal's back from Hawaii, and I don't want to think what it'd be like if not for Ukyou and even Kuno. They're basically the only two people who can keep him in check, seeing as how often Ranma skips school or simply sleeps through the classes. Sometimes Mousse stops by, too, usually on his way to delivering something or whatever, and helps. He and Ukyou seem to get along well, and its always fun to see them double team the Principal whenever he tries anything outrageous.   
  
Ukyou  
  
I don't know how many of that jackass' barber tools I've taken away from him. It's just our dumb luck that the idiot is a Kuno, and as rich as Siberia is wide, so he seems to have an unlimited supply of them. Beating the moron up is good therapy, especially since his own family seems to hate him as much as anyone, and everyone, else. Mousse and I have been plotting to get revenge on Saotome again, and we've been training hard to get better, but I've seen, and gotten involved in, some of Cologne's training.   
  
Every day, Ranma gets just that much better than me.  
  
Faster. Stronger. More skilled. At this rate, it's going to be impossible to get my revenge. He may have beaten me half to death the last time we fought, if not for... Damn him. It doesn't matter. I can see Ryouga now. He's been lost for almost a month, but I see him. I suppose Nabiki'll be happy, though the thought isn't a pleasant one. As I bump into him, I'm tempted to question him about it, but a hard look in his eyes is all the discouragement I need. He's here for business.   
  
He's here for revenge. I recognize the look in his eyes. It's the same one that I see every morning in the mirror, except with a terrible intensity that sends a chill down my spine. What are you planning, Ryouga? Is it that you're out to get revenge for everyone, or is your own hate so deep, so powerful... I don't want to see that hate in your eyes, Ryouga. They're too beautiful to be clouded by it. I want revenge just like you do, but... but where is it all leading? Will it really make us happy? I used to think so, but now I know what its like to be happy, and those times aren't when I'm fighting Ranma...  
  
Nabiki  
  
Things have gotten complicated.  
  
I've lost control of the situation, and even myself. I need someone to talk to, and settle for Kasumi, but she doesn't really follow what I'm hesitant to outright say, to her, or to anyone. I still can't believe Ranma goaded him into getting lost! I can't believe I didn't see it coming! I can't believe Ryouga would fall for such an obvious trick! I can't believe I was actually starting to like that directionally challenged idiot!  
  
How am I supposed to know what's going on, now?  
  
How am I supposed to be in control?  
  
How am I supposed to prevent what I know is going to happen between those two fools? I can't even control myself, anymore. After I found out, when I ran into that damn brother-in-law of mine, it was like I wasn't even there. It was like another Tendo Nabiki had taken over. I hit him, and hurt my hand for my trouble. There was only one way to hurt him - I scheduled the match for as soon as Ryouga shows up. He bitched about it, of course, so I told him to tell someone who cared. Look at me. I'm getting emotional over some guy. It's worse than that crush I had on Kuno-chan freshman year!   
  
I must have a weakness for morons.  
  
Our whole family probably has the same problem. It's genetic.  
  
The days fly by, but nothing memorable happens. Nothing that makes me care about what goes on around me. Old Principal Kuno is back, but Ukyou and Kuno and Mousse usually take care of him, and he generally leaves the upperclassmen alone, anyway. I've hyped up the match, sent our fliers, and gotten the preliminary reports on who would be betting on whom. It's going to be in the soccer field, where they had their first fight, and the bets were slightly in favor of Ranma. I spread some information about his training with Cologne, and put rumors into circulation where they need to be. The vote swings more in Ranma's favor.   
  
I get some control back, but it isn't enough. In the end, all I've done is help myself. I'm sorry. All I can do now is pray. Pray that neither of them kills the other. Pray that this mess ends today. This dirty money... I never thought... didn't anticipate... I don't want it soaked by blood. There's no profit in revenge. Only loss.  
  
Mousse  
  
Damn it.  
  
Where is he?  
  
I'm not blind. Not really. I've watched Saotome and Shampoo closely the last few weeks. They go out every Saturday and Tuesday, sometimes to see a movie, sometimes they just walk. It doesn't matter. I'm not blind. I can see that there's nothing between them - no spark, no love, no hope if not for that thrice damned Amazon Law. I attacked him the first few times, without even thinking. All it took was seeing Shampoo hold him closely, and look at him like I've always dreamt of her looking at me, and what little control I had over myself crashed to pieces at my feet.   
  
He beat me effortlessly.  
  
I've been training - some of the hardest, more intense training of my life, with Ukyou, and he's still just that much better than me. I cursed him, at first. Then it became obvious that Shampoo was wasting her time... Ranma didn't respond to her, and the distinct hurry behind his movements and words belied his intentions. He wanted each experience over with as quickly as possible so he could get back to more important things.   
  
Cologne had really screwed the pooch this time.  
  
Instead of him growing closer to Shampoo, he was starting to see her as more of an obstacle between him and his training than anything. And, just like that, the anger began to dissipate. I watched them, from afar, and saw how Shampoo gradually began to give up. They walked in silence more often than not, but it was a nervous silence, an unfamiliar silence: the silence that exists between strangers, because that's what they were, and always would be. My heart had soared at the thought, and the prospect, of Shampoo being mine. Then, as always, everything had come crashing down.  
  
Shampoo  
  
Stupid Mousse!  
  
He doesn't think, that one. I don't need my failings pointed out, not by anyone, and especially not by him! And especially not now! Does he think I don't know that Ranma doesn't care about me? Does he think I like trying to seduce him, this foolish foreigner male, when it should be the other way around? I am Joketsuzoku, and I am proud! I don't need Ranma, and I certainly don't need Mu Tzu.   
  
Good riddance to him.  
  
Good riddance to both of them.  
  
I see Ukyou, and wave. She's nice enough, though she seems to be spending more time with Mousse than with me. She waves back, and I see just whom she's with. A smile comes unbidden, and I quickly finish sweeping the front of the store. They don't wait, but it's all right. I know where she's taking him. Mousse comes first, then my great grandmother, and we head for Furinkan High. This charade between Ranma and myself has gone on long enough - it ends here and now. When Ryouga beats him, it'll be all the reason I need to annul the marriage. It'll be my way of making amends with him. Maybe, after this, we can be friends. I'd like to have more friends...  
  
Ryouga  
  
I walk past the gate, and into the school grounds.   
  
There are students everywhere. I see Kuno, watching things closely, next to Nabiki, in the section of students containing the juniors and seniors. Good. She should be safe near him. My eyes meet hers, and a strange feeling washes over me. She looks almost happy, and yet, somehow disappointed. I know why. She doesn't want this. She doesn't want the fight to come, and the cycle to continue.  
  
She understands.  
  
She understands me.  
  
She just doesn't like that things have to be the way they are. She thinks that I want to lose, that deep down, I need to lose. That I subconsciously don't think I'm worthy of winning, or of wielding the power that I do. I denied it at first, but over the last month, I've realized she's at least half right. The cycle continues, feeding on itself, because I don't know any other way. I beat Ranma - he must beat me. He beats me, and I must train and wander, until I can defeat him. I have nothing else.  
  
I had nothing else.  
  
It is only half of the truth. I do what I do, because it must be done. Histories are written about the soldiers who won their battles; but songs are sung about the soldiers who fell in battle struggling for a greater cause. What inspires us is the unfinished work, the dream of picking up the fallen standard and taking it ten more feet up the hill, knowing that even if you fall, the next man in line will take it another ten feet, until finally the hill is taken. My greater cause, my triumph and my failing, is to fight. And what is a fight, without an enemy? What is life, without a goal?  
  
Emptiness.  
  
I look away from her, and to the rest of the crowd. I see Nabiki's hirelings moving around, collecting bets, talking, and doing their business. They remind me of vultures, but even vultures are a necessary part of the world. I see Akane. She looks sad. At what, I do not know, and cannot guess. Ukyou steps up to me, as I walk onto the soccer field. Her hands touch my shoulders, and I let her slip the backpack off me.  
  
"Good luck, sugar," I hear her, and then she's gone, disappeared into the crowd. The wind starts to pick up, and I see Mousse, Shampoo, and Cologne on the school wall. Shampoo is sitting on the edge, watching intently. Mousse has his arms crossed, his long hair swaying in the wind, and a gleam in his thick lenses. Cologne seems only mildly interested, but I can see the very slight tension in her posture.  
  
It's cloudy, but rain shouldn't be a major factor.   
  
Ranma steps forward, his stride purposeful and slow. I measure his movements. I know who he's been training with, and how long. With practiced ease, I draw my umbrella, and plant it into the ground. My senses are now a razor's edge, and as I stretch out my muscles, I see Ranma do the same. The barest hint of his Ki reaches me, and I am surprised.   
  
He is cold.  
  
But there is a power behind the cold, like the chill wind from the north. The crowd grows silent, as Ranma closes his eyes, takes a stance, and opens them. I do the same, and feel the power burn for release. The crowd backs away, almost as one. My hands are fists, now.  
  
It Begins.  
  
And it Ends.  
  
Now. 


	10. Learning Curve part 10

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part X (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
Very few men and women saw the first blow. Those who had blinked, or flinched, or looked away for just a heartbeat, missed it, the moment was so fleeting. And yet, if only a few saw it, fewer still, only two, felt it, and understood it. Those two stood there, Ryouga's arm extended, his fist nestled in Ranma's right palm, and supported by his left. Ranma had caught the blow. Slowly, Ryouga pulled his arm back, and Ranma let it go. The wind alone filled the silence of the moment until, as it had to be, it was broken by a word, from Hibiki Ryouga.  
  
"Good."  
  
And the two warriors exploded at each other. Ryouga opened up with a high kick that spun into a Muay Thai combination of blows, first high, then low, then broken, as Ranma moved in, his fists a blur. Ryouga moved with unnatural grace, avoiding or fielding the blows that could have hit home. Ranma was attacking without restraint, and maneuvering for a good solid hit, and the lost boy was not yet ready to accommodate him. The exchange ended in an attempted backhand from Ryouga, that Ranma ducked, and instantly switched to an attempted counter around Ryouga's legs. The sweep hit only impossibly hard bone, and Ryouga still stood, the momentum now his.   
  
Ranma rolled back, kicked out, catching a bit of black hair, and onto his feet seamlessly. Ryouga received him with aplomb, pressing the attack with increasingly aggressive and savage blows. Ranma almost bent in half, avoiding a snap kick that would have punted a regular man's head into low earth orbit, and let his body flow into a new stance, crouching. Ryouga never hesitated, and jumped while reaching up, and letting lose a single bandanna. He landed, the bandanna still in hand, and flipped it around his fingers, like a switchblade, with practiced ease. One hand forward, to counter any attacks, he charged.  
  
Ranma's upper body blurred, as Ryouga's hand and bladed bandanna took seemingly random turns trying to either pound his face in, or slice it to ribbons. The pigtailed martial artist, however, had more than enough experience with sharp objects, thanks to a certain longhaired, short sighted, male Amazon, to last a lifetime. There was a heartbeat's hesitation in the lost boy's attack, and Ranma moved in, grabbed his wrist, pivoted, and axe kicked the lost boy, hard, sending him flying ten feet back, before he righted himself and landed on his feet, one hand minus a bandanna.  
  
Ranma smiled, and tossed the now limp piece of cloth to the ground.  
  
The crowd cheered, but neither boy seemed to hear or acknowledge the noise.   
  
"Nice to know this won't be too easy, Ranma. Nice to know you'll make me work a little to beat you," Ryouga spoke softly as he calmly walked to where his umbrella stood planted in the ground, and pulled it out like an Arthurian blade. He seemed to test it's weight, for only a second, before leaping at his opponent, the battle joined once again. Ryouga tucked the heavy weapon in, at first, and came in with an attempted elbow to the neck that Ranma avoided by less than an inch, having anticipated a strike with the umbrella. Ryouga recovered without breaking stride, and pressed forward, his ultra-heavy red umbrella now coming into play, and moving faster and faster with every strike, finally approaching an unspoken threshold.  
  
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!" He roared, and the speed behind the strikes doubled. Ranma barely had time to think, as the blows came in by the hundred; an endless barrage of attacks powerful enough to make a jackhammer seem like a love tap. Behind the pigtailed one, the ground erupted into puffs of smashed earth and dirt from the air pressure that rapidly accumulated into a cloud that stretched over half the field. Then, suddenly, the barrage ended, and Ranma moved to attack, a second too late - the back of a fist, moving at terrible speed, came in from the side, and caught him across the jaw. Ranma tasted blood, and felt himself go airborne, flying over the ground for twenty feet before plowing into the earth for half that distance before he recovered, and flipped out and onto his feet.   
  
Ryouga seemed momentarily stunned by his opponent's fast recovery, but he brought his forearm up just fast enough to block Ranma's flying kick, and respond with a lightning fast roundhouse that nearly connected. Ranma again took the offensive, with combinations of a half dozen slightly different martial styles, driving the lost boy steadily back. Ryouga had to give his opponent credit - Ranma was, again, as fast as he was, if not slightly faster, at this level. To compound that, Ranma had always been extremely skilled, and it looked like he may have had that advantage again, no doubt due to his training with Cologne and his father. Ryouga moved to counterattack, and Ranma shifted without hesitation into Akaido, throwing the lost boy off balance, and then into Tae Kwon Do, striking offensively with a series of kicks. Caught unprepared, Ryouga jumped back and up, before he could lose his footing further. Ranma tensed to pursue, but was forced to jump to the side as a one-ton umbrella spun through the air, nearly taking his face off completely.  
  
Ryouga was still in midair when they met, once again, in a flurry of blows and counterblows. On the ground, the umbrella kept spinning, like a saw blade, cutting through a swath of the field fence, before turning around and heading back to its master. The crowd roared, again, as the two martial artists landed, and continued fighting hand to hand. Ryouga's attention on his opponent never wavered, and as Ranma lunged, he caught the fist instead of blocking it, and initiated a grapple, as Ranma caught his own fist, easily. The two stood there for a moment, straining against the other, Ryouga using his superior strength and Ranma his superior position. The latter attacked first, with a high kick to the side of the head that the former intercepted with his right knee. Repositioning himself, Ranma was about to try again, when his danger sense went off - something was coming in from behind!   
  
The umbrella.  
  
"Kuso!" He tried to break the grapple, but Ryouga's grip was too strong.  
  
The lost boy laughed. "One splattered Saotome, coming right up!"  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed, and he concentrated on his hearing. The umbrella was making a barely audible cutting noise, as its hilt plowed through the ground keeping it on course. His eyes met Ryouga's, and he could see that the lost boy was never going to let go. It would be impossible to try and move him, or even try and trick him forward by falling backwards. Ryouga had grounded himself, and it'd take a military cargo helicopter to move him even an inch. The sound was slightly louder now. The weapon was getting ever closer to its ultimate goal of slicing his back in half at the midriff. Summoning all his will power, Ranma waited until the last second, tucked his legs in, and with every bit of flexibility he could muster, pulled his legs up, past Ryouga's face, and over his own head, taking his abdomen along for the ride. Nearly folded in two, Ranma heard Ryouga's astonished gasp, and felt the powerful grip on his hand and wrist disappear.   
  
Landing on his feet and straightening out, Ranma saw Ryouga, the umbrella now stopped and lying at his feet, a long red gash on the lost boy's shirt, across his chest. He looked infuriated, but Ranma was surprised he hadn't been cleaved in half by the impact. Ryouga's umbrella buzz saw trick was one of his most dangerous, but fortunately, also one of his most easily avoided. The lost boy had been unusually tricky, and ruthless, in using it like he just had. If he'd been a second too late coming up with that plan, Ranma didn't doubt that Ryouga would have just stood there and let something far worse than what he got happen to him.  
  
"Should yon blow have not done more harm to the Wanderer, Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno clenched his bokken. He'd been able to follow most of the battle so far, and he knew that the wandering rogue's thrown umbrella, given that it sliced through steel link fence like paper, should have done more damage. His money, of course, was on the wanderer (he'd be damned if he ever put money on Ranma, regardless of his opponent), and though Tatewaki Kuno was generally not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he was still curious.  
  
"Ryouga-kun's wearing protection," Nabiki answered. Her voice was emotionless.  
  
"Protection? ...As in armor? I see no armor."  
  
"His clothes protect him from cutting attacks, Kuno-chan."  
  
"Interesting." Kuno slowly realized something. "You didn't charge me for that information, you know."  
  
Nabiki didn't answer right away.  
  
"I know," she finally said, her mind elsewhere. That had been a killing attack. What was Ryouga doing? What the hell was he thinking?   
  
Ranma took a step to the side, in a different stance, arms dropping forward in an almost wounded fashion. Ryouga took a step forward, quickly recovering from the blow he'd absorbed from his own weapon, when Ranma's body began to fade. For a moment, he looked wavy, in a way similar to looking at an object at the bottom of a pool. Ranma just stood there, calmly.  
  
"Let's see what you've got, porkchop. Come on."  
  
"Porkchop! Porkchop?" Ryouga snarled, his cool quickly fading in the face of rage and indignation. "Eat fist and DIE, Ranma!!"  
  
He charged. Ranma's stance was pathetic, from a defensive or offensive viewpoint, which meant he was up to something. Ryouga scoffed to himself, and kept closing the distance. To those watching, he probably almost disappeared. He pulled back a hand, ready to deliver a quick tiger strike to Saotome's face and cave in his nose, leaving his face a tangled, bloody, unrecoverable mess, when his hand went right through Ranma without hitting anything.  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"Haku Dato Shin Shö!" Ranma's disembodied voice called out. Ryouga felt pressure on his back, up and down the sides of it, and skidded to a halt, his feet digging grooves in the ground. He turned, facing Ranma.  
  
"Interesting little trick, Ranma."  
  
Ranma was still in his lazy stance.   
  
Ryouga started to laugh. "Interesting. But useless on me! Those blows were like falling cherry blossoms."  
  
The lost boy snarled, and attacked again, his fists and knees blurring in a rapid series of attacks. Ranma barely seemed to move, as the blows passed right through him, and then, suddenly, Ryouga's forward momentum was lost, and he fell face first to the ground. As he rolled to the side, and back to his feet, Ryouga's eyes couldn't conceal his fury.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Shichü Rakuchi Sei," Ranma replied, calmly. "Of the Umisenken. Saotome School."  
  
"What a waste of time." Ryouga smiled, slowly.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yes. A total waste." He stood up, tall, and crossed his arms in front of him as he settled into a low crouch, his voice louder now, enough for everyone to hear. "Your little trick seems dependant on reigning in your Ki. What happens, then, I wonder, when it becomes a matter of life and death..."  
  
Ranma could feel it, then. Ryouga was beginning to manifest his battle aura. The glow came, suddenly, brighter than before, and in tune to Ryouga's breathing. In seconds, the lost boy's body was trembling, as he fought to contain his aura, and build it to new levels of power. The heaviness came, then, and Ranma could feel it trying to push him to his knees - to make him supplicate himself before its master.  
  
"What happens," Ryouga repeated, his voice low and dangerous. "When it becomes a matter of life and death... to RELEASE IT?!"  
  
He reared back, arms splayed to his sides, as if in ecstasy, and drowning out the lost boy's voice, great waves of red and black Ki poured off his body in a terrible, overwhelming deluge. Those watching capable of feeling it recoiled, and at his feet, Ranma could see blades of grass catch fire and burn away into nothingness. Birds took flight, and dogs barked, for miles, as the living maelstrom around Ryouga blazed, almost uncontrolled, for what seemed like minutes, but was, in fact, only seconds. The weight on Ranma was greater now, the heavy Ki pushing him down. To the side, it seemed like their audience was far enough away to avoid its effects, but for Ranma, there was no choice.  
  
He dropped out of the Umisenken.  
  
Arms wide, Ranma closed his eyes, and felt the power within him rise up to the surface, and form at its boiling point. Ryouga watched, impassively, as blue wisps of Ki began to coalesce around his nemesis, seeping out of his skin and rising into the air. Ranma's mouth opened, wordlessly, and more of the cold blue and white Ki escaped to freedom. Finally, some unspoken barrier broke, and snapped, and yellow crackles of spiritual energy manifested amid the blue, sheathing Saotome Ranma in a chilling power unlike any Ryouga had ever felt. Unfortunately, the only effective counter to a battle aura attack was another one, and even a 'cold' battle aura wasn't compatible with the Umisenken.   
  
"Well, then," Ryouga finally said. "Let's do this thing."  
  
"Incredible." Mousse's eyes were wide, but still obscured by his thick glasses. He could see them fairly well, but more importantly, he could feel their power. He was well aware of his own ability to manifest Ki as a battle aura, and his best was still far short of the two titans out in the soccer field, staring each other down. To his side, he saw Shampoo and Cologne, both of which were watching things intently. Mousse blinked, then - was Cologne smiling?  
  
"They're both monsters!" A boy, a freshman, took a step back. In the field, the two warriors clashed, and the sound was like the crack of thunder. Hiroshi spared a glance to his side, where Ukyou stood, watching the fight. A bit farther away, he could see Tendo Akane, who looked somewhat nervous. Truthfully, they both made him nervous - neither of them was really normal. In Akane, it was more exotic and exciting than truly dangerous or intimidating, but in Ukyou, with 'his' odd habits, and obvious power, it was more than a little disconcerting.   
  
Ukyou scowled, as the two men clashed, exchanging blows in the middle of the field. Clumps of dirt and stone flew past, occasionally hitting the odd student, but generally going well overhead. She watched, arms crossed, as Ranma found and exploited an opening, his fists truly blurring, as hundreds of blows well exceeding mach speed pounded away at Ryouga's chest. The lost boy barely acknowledged the blows, and pressed on. The shockwaves were already tearing the ground beneath them to bits. They were moving more and more quickly, too. Already, she could see that some students were having a hard time even coming close to following the exchange between the two.  
  
***  
  
Three weeks prior.  
  
"Ah!"  
  
"Quit flinching, you big baby."  
  
"I wouldn't be flinching if you weren't so clumsy!"  
  
"Clumsy?" Ukyou growled.  
  
"Geez! Sorry!" Mousse cringed, and Ukyou went back to bandaging his arm. With his other arm, he scratched the bridge of his nose. Another problem with his too-thick glasses, besides their liability in combat, and embarrassment in public, was that they always slipped out of place. He wasn't stupid, of course, he'd gotten a pair tighter on the nose, to try and prevent it, but they still slipped, and now, worse, irritated his nose.  
  
"There!" Ukyou cut off a stray bit of gauze with a mini-spatula, and admired her work. Mousse's arm had gotten pretty badly scraped up in their last scrap... or to be exact, her last scrap, with Ranma. She'd bandaged it up pretty well, and cleaned up the wound, and while it wasn't up to the levels of Doctor Tofu, Tendo Kasumi or even Shampoo, who was surprisingly well versed in holistic medicine, it seemed all right. Still, it didn't hurt to make sure.  
  
"What do ya think, sugar?" She prompted.  
  
"It's a bit tight," Mousse answered, and then saw the look on her face. "But tight in a ...good way."  
  
"Good." She smiled, and leaned back on the chair. Her hair was a mess, and idly, she undid the ponytail behind her, and let it cascade down her shoulders and back. It was a jumble anyway, right now. It'd be less of a hassle let down and long than bunched up into her normal boy-disguise haircut.  
  
Mousse was silently thankful when she did. Ukyou in her boy-disguise look always made him feel a bit uncomfortable, though he couldn't quite pinpoint why. When she let her hair down, it made him feel much more at ease, though he was careful not to say anything. Ukyou was still very touchy when it came to her past, of which Mousse only knew a little. Kuonji Ukyou was reluctant to let her secrets out.  
  
"Thanks," she suddenly said, out of the blue.  
  
"Huh?" Mousse shook his head a bit, focusing on the conversation.  
  
"Thanks," she said again, more slowly this time. "You really saved my skin back there."  
  
"It wasn't a problem." He looked at his arm, and amended that. "Well, maybe a little one. But you'd have done the same for me."   
  
"It's my fault. I... I shouldn't have gone off like that, and attacked him myself. I knew I didn't have a chance against him, but still..." She clenched a fist, pain evident on her features. "When I found out that he'd gotten Ryouga-kun lost, on purpose. And that smug smile on his face... I just lost control. I had to do something."  
  
Mousse nodded, understanding. "I feel the same way when the bastard plays around with Shampoo. Taking food from her, then insulting her behind her back, with that Tendo girl. When I see her dote on him, it... it just makes me furious."  
  
"You really love her, don't you?"  
  
"I... I..." Mousse stopped, surprised by his hesitation. He did love Shampoo. He'd loved her ever since they were children, when no one else was interested in doing much with a male who wanted to fight, and train. They'd grown up together, but they'd never grown closer, together, in all that time.  
  
"Yeah, I love her," he finally said, matter-of-factly.  
  
"I think... I think I love Ryouga-kun," Ukyou ventured. Mousse quirked an eyebrow, and his heart jumped a beat. His composure, however, never changed, even to a trained eye. He had learned quite well to hide his emotions, when he wanted to. It was a very handy skill, considering his position at 'home.'  
  
"Think?" He queried, calmly.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe like a brother, I guess." She sighed. "Things are a lot more complicated than before, when it was just me and my revenge on the Saotomes. You won't believe this, but I think I loved Ranma, too."  
  
"What?!" Mousse hissed, sibilant.  
  
"It was a long time ago. We were kids." Ukyou didn't say any more, preferring instead to look up at the ceiling. "Anyway... on the topic of revenge, what are we going to do about Saotome?"  
  
"We train. We get better!" Mousse reached into his left sleeve, and started twirling a small knife between his fingers. "It won't be easy, though."  
  
"Not with the old ghoul training him all the time." Ukyou frowned, her features hardening. "I couldn't even touch him when we fought, and I was faster than I'd ever been before."  
  
"You were fighting angry. Very angry," Mousse clarified.  
  
"I was. But I always fight angry. I use it to my advantage," she repeated the same things Ryouga had told her, back when he'd given her training to face Ranma, when they first met almost a year ago. "Still, usually I come close to matching him sometimes. Now? Nothing. And when he started to attack, it was like no defense I could mount did anything."  
  
"He hit harder, too." She felt a tender spot on her right arm carefully. "Either he's been holding back..."  
  
"A possibility."  
  
"Or he's getting much better, much more quickly than we anticipated. He'll be totally beyond us in a week, at a minimum."  
  
The two were silent. Overhead, the large ceiling fan did its work, slowly spinning and softly humming. Ukyou's Bar and Grill was closed, given the hour, and the neighborhood, at least here, tended to be quiet at night. Tsubasa hadn't even shown up in days. It was a comfortable silence, though, Ukyou felt. They were both thinking along the same lines, and they both knew it.   
  
"Would Cologne...?"  
  
"No," Mousse replied with finality. "She's already devoting herself to Ranma. I know she wouldn't train me, and I don't think she'd spare her time for you, either, because you're an outsider."  
  
"Ranma and Ryouga were outsiders."  
  
"The only reason she trains Ranma is because he's... legally married to Shampoo, according to our laws. And she only trained Ryouga to try and get Ranma to join the tribe of his own free will. She has no such incentive to help us and she doesn't do anything unless it benefits her in some way."  
  
"Damn." Ukyou started tapping on the grill, growing frustrated. "If Ryouga-kun were here...."  
  
"But he isn't, so there's no point in moaning about it, is there?" Mousse caught her hard glare, but pressed on, a little repentant for snapping at her. "You know I'm right, Ukyou-san."  
  
She sighed. "Yeah. ...I know. And *you* should know by now that you don't have to sound so formal with me. We're friends, after all."  
  
"Ah..."  
  
"You can call me... " She seemed to hesitate. "Uuchan. ... If you want."  
  
"Uuchan?" Mousse nodded. "Ok. Uuchan it is, then."  
  
"And I'll call you Mu-chan!"  
  
"Uhh..." Mousse shook his finger. "How about you don't?"  
  
"Fine, fine." She smiled, sweetly. "Mousse-honey?"  
  
He laughed shyly. "That's a little, er, aaa... just Mousse is fine!"  
  
"You're so uptight!" She punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Loosen up a little."  
  
"Ok. Ok." He coughed, steering the conversation back to the previous topic. "Anyway, Happosai's an option."  
  
The two instantly broke out into laugher. Ukyou snickered at the thought. "That'll be the day!"  
  
"We could pay him for the lessons in underwear!"  
  
"He'd be happy just to feel me up! I don't think he'd even ask for anything else!"  
  
"Wait!" Mousse held up a finger at that, demanding attention. "He doesn't know you're not a guy."  
  
"He..." She smiled, slowly. "He doesn't know I'm not a guy?"  
  
"This may not be such a bad idea after all. If nothing else, we can appeal to his rivalry with Cologne. She is training the heir of his school, after all." Mousse's eyes took on a dangerous glint. "And, of course, we can always stuff him in a bag and throw him in the river AFTER he teaches us all we need to know about defeating Saotome. Even picking up just a trick or two would be useful."  
  
"Mousse." Ukyou smirked, and the two clasped hands. "It's a Plan!"  
  
A little over a mile away, Shampoo winced, for the fifth time, as Ranma flew back wildly, skidding and carving a deep ditch in the ground with his shoulder. The pigtailed martial artist slowly got back to his feet, drew himself up, and walked forward. He had a determined, almost wild look in his eyes, as he approached the Matriarch of the Amazons. Cologne blinked, and Ranma charged, only to be thrown back again, this time spinning from a strike to the side of his neck.   
  
Cologne scoffed at his prone body. "Get back up."  
  
Ranma groaned, and almost sat up, before gasping and rolling his head back in exhaustion. Cologne growled, and slammed the blunt end of her staff into his midriff, causing him to snarl in pain and anger and curl into a fetal position, guarding the sensitive parts of his body. He'd gone through a dozen training sessions where Cologne beat on him mercilessly, and put him through all manner of tortures. Every day, when he left, she encouraged him to give up - to not come back.  
  
And like an addict, every day he walked to the Nekohanten, and limped, or was carried, back to the Tendo Dojo. The only small consolation was the food that Cologne herself prepared for him before he headed out. The old woman turned, and faced her great granddaughter.  
  
"Get the harness ready again..." The Matriarch began to say.  
  
Shampoo was about to move from where she sat, cross-legged, when Ranma yelled something unintelligible, and forced himself to his knees. Cologne favored him with a glance. "What was that, boy?"  
  
"No." He shook his head, eyes shut. "Not again."  
  
"Look at you. You're afraid, aren't you? Hibiki wasn't afraid to face the rocks," Cologne lied and let her words drip contempt. Ryouga had feared the rocks to an extent, but sheer thickheaded tenaciousness had let him get over it. "But, then, he's always been tougher than you, hasn't he? Stronger, too. I hate wasting my time, boy. Get up, or give up."  
  
Ranma's whole body trembled. "Damn... you, old woman."  
  
Cologne said nothing.   
  
"I... don't... give... up!" Impossibly, on battered legs, Ranma got back on his feet, and weakly raised his arms. "Not now! Not Ever!! I'll never give up! And I won't lose!"  
  
"Impressive." Cologne hopped up and over to where Shampoo sat. "Great granddaughter."  
  
"Yes, great grandmother," Shampoo answered, stood up, and picked up one of her bonbori. She was always the last test of the day - he had to fight her before the day's training was done. It was far from fair; Shampoo herself had hardly had more than a warm up over the day, when Ranma practiced avoiding her and leading her attacks along a line on the ground that, recently, had become a spiral.  
  
Sighing, Shampoo looked Ranma over. He was favoring one side, the left, and limping badly, and though he was compensating for it by adjusting his stance, his disadvantage was impossible to overcome. Earlier in the day, he'd been pounded on by rocks, in the traditional Bakusai Tenketsu fashion, and while his regimen was much less impressive than the one she'd seen Ryouga undergo - due simply to the fact that Ranma simply wasn't as naturally tough as the wanderer, it was still impressive. Far more so than the minor version of the toughening technique she'd undergone back when she was a girl.  
  
But Ranma hated it.  
  
True enough, no one enjoyed the Bakusai Tenketsu training. A person would have to be a severe masochist to even feel indifferent to it. But Ranma hated it. He hated the feeling of helplessness, and he hated being tied up. Ryouga had growled and cursed, but he had never needed to be coerced or forced into the harness. Shampoo knew she'd wanted, at times, to give up, but she'd voluntarily done through with it. Ranma, however, squirmed and complained, and even tried to escape. Shampoo had never seen anything like it.   
  
"Here Shampoo come!" She warned, and started to advance. Ranma tensed, and slipped past her first, exploratory strike. She pushed harder, and taking advantage of his preference for his left side, struck the right. He blocked, and barely stood, but didn't attempt to counterattack. He was always too beaten and tired by the end of the day to do anything but block and avoid her attacks.   
  
Shampoo barely noticed the slowly inward spiral she and Ranma were making, the cool grass barely registering where they had stepped. Shampoo barely noticed it, but for Ranma, it was his guideline. Cologne had showed him the power of the Hiryü Shöten Ha, and that power was in the form of a spiral. Mastery was a matter of time... and practice.  
  
Still, as they neared the center of the spiral, she felt that something was missing.   
  
But what?  
  
Darkness.  
  
Ranma blinked and looked up. Shampoo stood over him, and slowly, she reached down. "Come on. Shampoo take you home."  
  
Feeling the side of his face where he'd been hit, finally, Ranma sighed. Reaching out, he took her hand. Home was sounding pretty damn good.  
  
***  
  
"Ranma! DIE!"   
  
Ryouga broke through the flurry of palm strikes, and faked a strike with his right elbow, only to bring up a hard knee and plant it deep in Ranma's gut. As the pigtailed boy doubled over, gasping, Ryouga smiled. Sensing weakness, like a shark, the lost boy elbowed down, into the base of his opponent's right shoulder blade, and high kicked, sending Ranma straight up like a bottle rocket. Looking up at his ascending foe, Ryouga's eyes narrowed and his hands brushed past his temple, drawing bandannas.  
  
Without warning, Ryouga began to spin the cloth, turning each bandanna into a deadly shuriken. Not sparing a moment longer than he had to, Ryouga began to let them fly, straight up, machine gun style. In the air, Ranma clenched his teeth, got himself under control, and opened his eyes. When he did, he almost wished he'd stayed ignorant. There was a virtual wave of bandannas heading towards the Saotome heir, and his momentum was keeping him from even trying to get out of their way. Slowly, he felt himself begin to decelerate, as he reached his apex, and Ranma splayed his arms wide, as if he could almost catch some air and fly. His mind raced for an escape, but there was none. The only way he could go was down, and right into Ryouga's bandannas. He'd be dissevered into diced bits of Saotome Ranma before he even hit the ground.  
  
One choice.  
  
No choice.  
  
Ranma drew back his hand, concentrated his Ki, and tracked the web of bladed bandannas he was about to fall right into. He felt his hands clench around what he needed, but it was too small, and he was running out of time. Tears streaming down his face from the effort, even after all these weeks, Ranma rejected the small one, and drew more Ki into the technique, drawing a larger one, and then a larger one. Finally, he brought his hands forward, lit the bomb, and threw it with every ounce of strength left in him.  
  
"Happo Dai Karin!!"  
  
Ryouga shielded his eyes, as a massive explosion intercepted his bandanna swarm. The explosion was at least partially directed, and sent the deadly projectiles flying in every direction, though mainly back down. Ryouga dodged, to the side, as two of the bandannas came down, and imbedded themselves in the ground at his feet, coming too damn close to clipping him for his comfort. Distantly, he heard people running, and trying to get under cover. Looking back up, and concentrating on the descending Saotome, Ryouga growled deep in his throat.  
  
The stupid bastard refused to just die.  
  
Ryouga reached up, and drew more bandannas, quickly shooting them off at the rapidly falling Saotome. Ranma tucked, and barely avoided the first two, but the fifth and sixth cut him across his left arm, drawing blood. Cursing, Ranma dodged the next two, spun, and let his foot impact the surprised Hibiki Ryouga in the face like a runaway train. Ryouga twirled, gracefully, with the blow, and into a high kick that Ranma almost broke his back avoiding. They were both back on the ground now, and Ranma came up first, slamming another unannounced three-hundred blow strike at Ryouga's throat, sending the lost boy sprawling in midair, spitting blood.  
  
Ranma moved in fast, hitting him before he could hit the ground. A hard elbow to the sternum, another hundred blow attack, with his knee, to the base of the spine, a double handed blow to the stomach, sending Ryouga down and into the ground with a thunderous crash as earth and stone gave way to flesh and bone. Ranma jumped, then, just as Ryouga's left index finger lightly touched the ground.  
  
"Bakusai Tenketsu!"  
  
Ranma turned, blocking or catching the bits of earth, depending on their size. A cloud of smoke and dust obscured Ryouga's position now, and Ranma knew better than to boldly rush into such a situation. He landed, on both feet, and waited for a cool wind to blow in and start to disperse the smoke screen. He blinked, as a bit of dust got into his eyes, and almost had his internal organs reduced to jelly. Ryouga was in front of him, suddenly, rage in his eyes, arms a blur.  
  
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!" The lost boy yelled, and let loose. Ranma reacted instantly, with his own set of Amaguriken speed blows and counters, trying to force Ryouga out of the cycle and lose his rhythm. Ranma almost forgot, just then, that Ryouga used his version of the Chestnut Fist differently. While Ranma used his to maneuver for a good blow, or to concentrate hundreds of blows in the same place, Ryouga used his primarily for distraction. Which meant...  
  
The kick hit Ranma's forearm, and despite Ranma's bracing, almost blew straight through his defenses and into his neck. At their feet, the power of the blow shook the ground, throwing pebbles into the air, and knocking more than one observing Furinkan High student off their feet. Ranma saw the momentary opening that his hasty block had given him, and took it for everything it was worth.  
  
Both of Ranma's arms blurred.   
  
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken Revised! SUPER!!"  
  
Ryouga writhed, as Ranma's fists plowed mercilessly into his kidneys and abdomen, hammering both sides at the same time, hundreds of times. Ryouga was helpless in the position he'd left himself in, and Ranma pushed past his normal limit, passing the five hundred mark, even as his arms cried and screamed into his brain, begging for a break. Ranma ignored them, and broke his previous limits to splinters, knowing full well he may never again get such a golden opportunity. Ryouga's steel-hard muscles were just now beginning to weaken, and Ranma hissed past the pain in his arms, but pure determination could only fight off fatigue for so long, and after just over a thousand blows, with each arm, Ranma had to stop. Ryouga stumbled back two feet, not totally in control of himself, his Ki flickering as he fought to stay conscious.  
  
"NOW!" Ranma lunged, drawing out a patterned cloth wrapper. "Goshin Ryü Sei Fu!!"  
  
Ryouga was still stumbling, when the cloth wrapped around his head, cutting off his supply of air. Ranma them jumped over Ryouga's head, tightening the noose. "Ri Giyo Hon Shin!"  
  
"Haizan Tökai Tai!" Ranma planted his feet on Ryouga's lower back, and straightened out partly, as Ryouga's hands waved wildly, clawing like a madman's at the air. Ryouga finally seemed to give, and threw himself back, but Ranma held tight, and rolled with him, so when Ryouga came back to his feet, Ranma was still behind him, his grip on the choking tablecloth secure.  
  
"Ryouga!" Ukyou tensed to interfere. The lost boy had been on the offensive the entire time until now. For as long as she'd known him, he'd seemed unstoppable. How was he now in the defensive?  
  
Akane gasped.  
  
In another section, Nabiki ground her teeth, "Ryouga-kun. He's killing you.... They're killing each other... Idiots, both of them..."  
  
True enough, she had heard Ryouga talk enough of what he wanted to do to Ranma, and she knew the pigtailed boy had felt similarly - there was no love lost between them. But to actually see it, to actually see them at each other's throats. It hadn't really occurred to her that they would actually follow through.  
  
"Hold, Tendo Nabiki." Kuno put his hand on her shoulder, gently - the gesture of a friend. "Watch. Things are not yet decided."  
  
Ryouga's hands became fists, and bringing both forward, struck both back as one, slipping under Ranma's arms and into his vulnerable underarms. Ranma howled in pain, and lost his grip, as both martial artists fell forward. Ranma gone from his back, Ryouga reached up to the cloth on his face, and tore it off like it was no stronger than a paper bag. He turned, and attacked, fist first. Ranma blocked, and they began to dance a similar step, though only Akane, Shampoo and Cologne recognized it.  
  
"Bakusai Tenketsu!!"  
  
The desiccated soccer field shook from the explosions.  
  
"Back up, everyone!" Mousse jumped off the wall, recognizing that things were only going to get more dangerous for those watching as time went on. "Come on, you guys! Get back!"  
  
"But..." One of the students, and older boy, didn't seem to want to move. Mousse noticed that he had his arm around a girl's waist, and inferred that he probably didn't want to look bad in front of his girlfriend.  
  
Too bad for him.  
  
"It's for your own safety." Mousse let a hand leave his sleeve, and three razor sharp claws glinted off of a stray ray of sunlight. "Trust me on that."  
  
The other students didn't hesitate. Most of them recognized Mousse anyway; from the times he'd helped deal with the Principal. Ukyou noticed what he was doing, and came to an identical conclusion. Ryouga wasn't hesitating to use his Bakusai Tenketsu, and while he'd kept the explosions small, he was almost certainly just saving his energy and biding his time before letting lose with a BIG one. Or something worse. Who knew? One kid had been cut on the leg by a stray bandanna, when there was that big midair explosion, and Ukyou wasn't keen on anyone getting closer to the fight than they had to. Waving her arms, she directed them to move back, closer to the School, where they could at least duck into for cover, if they needed it.   
  
"AHH! Finally da Big Kahuna's got outta der!" A familiar voice came, and the Principal ran out of the building, a piece of duct tape still hanging from the side of his mouth.   
  
"Him?" Ukyou growled. "The idiot escaped again! Who was on guard duty?"  
  
"Umm... me." Daisuke, a boy with neat brown hair, spoke up. Ukyou suddenly noticed he sounded a little like a younger Soun, but chalked it up to coincidence.  
  
"Why ain't you keikis in class, ya?" The Principal's attention was drawn by another thunderous explosion from the soccer field. "AAAHHHH!! Mah socca field! ..."  
  
The Principal crumpled to the floor, and Mousse landed behind him, casually twirling a heavy looking mace in his right hand.  
  
"Oops." He adjusted his glasses, and the mace slipped silently back into his sleeve. "Did I do that?"  
  
"You're a lifesaver, Mousse." Ukyou kicked the Principal's body off into a corner. Out of sight, out of mind. ...Hopefully, anyway.  
  
It probably only took a minute or two for everyone to get back to the cover of the school, but to Ukyou, it seemed like half an hour. People kept milling around, trying to get a better look, and generally being idiots. The freshman, especially, had never seen the first fight between Ranma and Ryouga, and even when the explosions began, many didn't want to move for cover. Luckily, Kuno rallied some of the older students, and got them moving. Just in time, too, as a massive blast totally engulfed what was left of the soccer field, and more than half of the baseball diamond. Next to her, Mousse gasped, and she saw, in what was almost like slow motion, the entire soccer field bubble and grow, before finally simply giving way.  
  
Caught so close to the blast, the bleachers bent and shattered like twigs, and the supply shack was simply consumed. Further away, the locker room windows shattered, and the walls caved in, like a house of cards. Ukyou blinked, and concentrated instead on the rolling wave of smoke and debris headed their way.  
  
"Shit," she cursed, and then yelled to the other students. "EVERYONE! GET DOWN! NOW!"  
  
Ryouga hung in midair, his hair whipping around his face. Clumps of dirt, and bits of stone and concrete, some tiny, some as large as a beach ball, impacted his chest, arms, and legs, shattering on contact. Eyes like slits, to keep out the dust, he saw Ranma disappear into the firestorm of broken earth. His ears picked up, distantly, broken piping and fountains of water. Ryouga's grip on his umbrella tightened, and he was silently glad he'd gotten it back, just in case he did run afoul of any cold water. To his left and right, massive boulders hung suspended in the air, twirling in unseen and chaotic orbits.  
  
It had been the largest Bakusai Tenketsu Dan he'd yet unleashed.  
  
Ryouga's eyes found a suitable landing spot, on a spinning boulder, and he touched down for only a quarter second, before jumping up, and off another boulder, getting high with each jump. As he reached the apex of the explosion, with the debris finally starting to fall back to earth, he saw Ranma, standing on another falling boulder. He looked ragged, beaten and worn down to the bone. But he was far from broken or defeated.  
  
"You filthy thief!" Ryouga jumped, umbrella held high and ready to destroy the cause of his pain, "DDDIIIEEEE!!!"  
  
Ranma smirked, and settled once again in to the Umisenken stance. Ryouga cursed, loudly, as his umbrella hit the boulder, passing right through the image-Ranma. Too late, he realized he'd put so much energy into the Bakusai Tenketsu Dan that his battle aura had slipped, and weakened, allowing Ranma to go back into the form fo the Silent Thief. The umbrella cracked the old rock in half, an instant before it splintered entirely, and gave out beneath Ryouga's feet. The image-Ranma looked down at him as he fell, its eyes glittering. The lost boy fell, helplessly, into the pit where the soccer field had once been, swearing vengeance, the boulders and stone from before closing in on him, blocking out the sky and the sun.  
  
Cologne felt the tremor, through her staff, a millisecond before the second explosion rocked Nerima. In all her years, she had never felt so much Ki so perfectly, or perhaps, desperately, siphoned into a Bakusai Tenketsu before. The small earthquake, however, was only a side effect, as the ground shattered for hundreds of feet, like a demi-god's jigsaw puzzle. She calmly motioned to her great granddaughter.  
  
"Move," Was all she said, before Cologne took to the air, the wall beneath her splintering.  
  
"Ayia! What...?" Shampoo's voice was drowned out, as every Breaking Point within three hundred feet of the soccer field burned with Ki, and activated. The world disappeared in a cloud of ash and dust, and all noise was as nothing compared to the deafening roar of hundreds of tons of rock and asphalt and concrete tearing itself to bits at the whim of one man. The rising cloud was visible for miles over the Nerima skyline.  
  
Inside Furinkan, students huddled together, as pieces of rock and stone battered in broken windows, and pounded the walls and roof of the school. Outside, right to the left of the main doors, a massive slab of rock, ages old, crashed down, flattening one of the statues of the Principal. Mousse smiled, at that, and looked down at the pineapple-loving maniac he'd dragged in just moments before. He was still out cold, thank goodness. It took more than a minute for the last of the rubble to settle and fall, though the blanket of dust still shifted and refused to release its grasp on the battlefield.  
  
Ranma coughed, his spit brown with ash and dirt, and slowly moved the hunk of rock off his legs. He'd been buried in the second blast, despite his best efforts to escape. He'd had to scramble and scrape as soon as he'd lost sight of the sky, and only now was he finally able to get a brief look at the outside. Reaching up, he let his fingers feel for a good surface to get a grip on so he could pull himself out. Then, something found him. Ranma felt a powerful pressure enclose his hand, and effortlessly pull him out of the rubble.  
  
"Damn." Ranma gulped, blinking bits of dirt out of his eyes.  
  
"I was about to say the same thing, Saotome." Ryouga didn't smile. Around him, the world looked like a wasteland. Nothing lived. There seemed to be only broken rock and swirls of ash and dust. The only sound, besides the beating of Ranma's own brain, to his ears was the loud wail of police cars and ambulances. Ryouga's brows creased, and he seemed to consider his options. He had his enemy, by the wrist and hand, straight-armed, and off his feet.  
  
"Tired already, Ranma?" He still didn't smile, instead preferring to drive his words home with a hammer fist to the stomach. "Well?"  
  
Ranma looked up, and seemed to see something in the distance, behind Ryouga. "What the hell is that!?"  
  
"Eh?" Ryouga looked over his shoulder. "What...?"  
  
Ryouga never finished his sentence.  
  
"Röga Shühai Tai!" Ranma kicked free of Ryouga. Silently, he was thankful he'd taken the time to study the Saotome School of Underhanded Trick Techniques. They seemed pretty stupid, but this one had probably saved his life. Slowly, Ryouga turned, sporting a rather unseemly bruise on his jaw, where Ranma had sucker kicked him about two hundred times.  
  
"Ranma." He was virtually shaking with rage. "I'm going to break even your tiniest bones!!"  
  
"Yeah?" Ranma felt his confidence rise, and with it, a second wind. His Ki was rapidly rising; again, despite the beating his body had taken.  
  
"Yeah!" Ryouga nodded, his face a thing of fury, and his canines in proud display. His own battle aura blazed, again, enveloping him, and cutting off any effective use of the Umisenken. There were still techniques of the Silent Thief that Ranma could use, but none that would do much good in a situation like this. Ryouga attacked, his anger only somewhat clouding his technique and style. Ranma received him, and the two dueled anew, amid the wreckage and the rubble outside Furinkan High. 


	11. Learning Curve part 11

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part XI (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
Nabiki Tendo yawned, and fighting the automatic impulse to simply go back to sleep, looked to her side and checked the time. Predictably, it was morning - another tedious and otherwise uneventful day. Slowly working up the mental discipline to get out of her soft, comfortable, warm bed, she imagined how things would go. Ranma would be training, of course, like he had been doing for weeks. Lately, he'd taken to doing strange things around the house, like sneaking around under the floors, and taking odd things while people were reading or watching them.   
  
Kasumi would be making breakfast, and enjoying it. What she saw in cooking, Nabiki never fully grasped. Of course, with Kasumi around, she'd never had the chance to, but that was aside from the point. Akane would, naturally, either be sleeping or getting ready for school. Her little sister was immensely dull in that respect. She was intelligent, if a bit dim when it came to common sense, but she had little real ambition or drive. Her constant search for shortcuts to doing everything was annoying at times, irresponsible at others, and, coupled with her neediness, was one of the main reasons Nabiki generally kept a reasonable distance from a closer relationship with her. Akane was the youngest sibling, and she acted like it.  
  
As for her father, and Saotome-san... her father would be up, he usually was, reading the morning paper, or taking a long walk. The Panda would be sleeping, seeing as he and Ranma didn't train together anymore. There'd been some sort of fall out between the two, a rather large argument in the training hall, and since then Mr. Saotome had slept until noon, or later, according to Kasumi, after which he generally stalked around, aimlessly. There was something unusual going on between father and son there, but they'd both been strangely tight lipped about things.  
  
Inching out from under the covers, Nabiki went to brush her teeth, her mind still on imminent events. Ukyou was more of a morning person, taking care of the breakfast crowd, (the freaks) and then heading out for school. Occasionally, Mousse walked with her to the gates, and they talked about things only they'd really care about - revenge and martial arts, from what she'd picked up from time to time. They were an odd pair, born of necessity, definitely, and perhaps something else.  
  
They were both Ryouga's friends, and Nabiki wondered if he knew what was going on. She momentarily toyed with the notion that Ryouga more than knew: he'd planned it out beforehand. After all, he had to have known that Ukyou had something for him, and at the same time, had no one of her own. More so, he had introduced them to each other, and he had known about Mousse from Shampoo long before Mousse knew of him.  
  
"Nah." Nabiki washed out her toothbrush and dismissed the thought. It made sense, in a way, but Ryouga just wasn't devious or manipulative enough to do something like that. Not that he couldn't - he just wouldn't. The very thought wouldn't cross his mind. Sighing, she went back to her room to change.  
  
Where was the lost boy?  
  
Nabiki caught herself, and amended that thought. She only cared because he was messing with her timetable by being lost, and causing her grief. Scheduling the event was difficult enough without half the prizefight getting lost for days or weeks at a time. It was a significant loss of control over the situation. It was an irritant and an annoyance, and Tendo Nabiki hated annoyances.  
  
Like the stubble on his chin.   
  
Looking at her fingertips, she remembered the feel of it - rough and unshaved, he'd obviously been on the road for who knew how long. It had felt so different from anything else she could remember. He'd flinched a bit, shyly, and blushed, his eyes wide and surprised, tinged by a little fear. Odd, that of all the people and things to be afraid of, he'd pick her. He was cute, in a shy clueless martial artist kind of way.   
  
"What am I thinking, me and Ryouga?" She spared a quick laugh. "He's probably thinking about Akane, or Ukyou, or Shampoo, or any number of other girls right now."  
  
Opening her drawer, Nabiki gasped.  
  
It was...  
  
A surge of anger and panic came, and then just as easily went, as she realized what had happened. Examining one of the vegetables that had replaced her undergarments, she pursed her lips and checked her drawers. Inside was the family fine china.   
  
"Ranma," she growled. Luckily for the next time she saw him, Nabiki didn't have the anger of her sister. No, Nabiki Tendo had a patient form of the Tendo Rage - she'd wait, and scheme, and come up with something both suitably punishing and entertaining to do to Saotome. She made a quick mental note of it before going downstairs and checking the kitchen.  
  
"Kasumi, have you..." Nabiki skipped down the stairs as a brisk pace. Kasumi was at the bottom, a rather large armful of clothes on hand. "Ah. There they are,"  
  
"Why were these in the kitchen?" Kasumi's voice was just the tiniest bit impatient. The kitchen was her castle, and she disliked intruders who came without notice. It wasn't enough to make her angry, or even really unhappy, but it made her ...less content when people messed with her domain.  
  
A sudden crash from the floor above seemed to answer the question.  
  
"RANMA NO HENTAI!!!"  
  
"Well, Akane's up early at least." Nabiki quickly took the clothes and headed upstairs before the two lovebirds took their fighting downstairs.  
  
***  
  
Ranma felt the pressure of Ryouga's open palm strike graze past his ear, opening a cut in his flesh, and felt a trickle of blood flow. Dismissing it for a moment, he drew on the power of the Happo Dai Karin, and let it coalesce and form in his cupped hands. "Happo Dai Karin ...Revised!!"  
  
Ryouga saw it too, and his eyes widened in realization, as Ranma's cupped hands slammed into his midriff. He looked up at Ranma in surprise just as the bomb went off, blowing the lost boy back and off the ground. Ranma's hands were singed, and felt like he'd held on too long to a box of dynamite (not inaccurate, actually). He was hurting, but the pigtailed one consoled himself with the fact that Ryouga had to be hurting a hell of a lot more than he was.  
  
"Huh. What the hell is going on over there?" Ichiro Nishimura wasn't a martial artist, and he wasn't a resident of Nerima. He was a truck driver. He was happy being a truck driver. It wasn't the most exalted job in the world, but it had to be done, and it allowed him to get out and see a lot of Japan on his way from place to place. It should be noted, here, that Ichiro Nishimura had never been through Nerima before, and so, when he tuned out the radio warning of a 'Disturbance' near Furinkan High School, he ignored it and kept going. He figured it was probably a traffic accident or something.  
  
Ryouga's trajectory took him over the nearby street, through a wall, and into the side of a truck that had been moving down the road. The impact was sudden and brutal, and knocked the vehicle off the pavement and into the metal guard railing on the street. The crunch of metal, and the popping of abused tires sounded as Ryouga's momentum finally came to a stop, and so did the truck that had stopped him. Touching his feet to the ground, Ryouga elbowed back, deforming the metal behind him. Snarling, his battle aura still a personal inferno, Hibiki Ryouga pulled his right arm forward, and then back, letting his forearm carelessly pulverize what he was currently imbedded in.   
  
The truck groaned, tipped back and over and Ryouga fell to the pavement, free. He was about to run in the direction he came, when, almost on a lark, he looked over his shoulder, and saw a man, with a rough moustache and beard, trying to unlock the driver's side door that was currently smashed beyond recovery, courtesy of a certain martial artist (himself). For a moment, he was worried that in his haste, he'd injured the man, but he seemed fine, though panicked - enough innocent people had gotten caught between Ranma and himself to almost make him want to find a better locale to fight in, but it was a little too late to be choosey now.   
  
Ryouga shrugged, and was about to leave, when he smelled leaking gasoline, and saw where his impact had broken one of the fuel lines. Almost without thinking, Ryouga jumped up, and tore the door off. The man started to babble something, but the lost boy just reached down, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and jumped away from the burning wreck. The older man stared at him, mouth still moving but not making any noise. Ryouga pointed in an arbitrary direction.  
  
"Go," The martial artist said, simply.  
  
The man nodded, comprehension making its way through stunned surprise, and he ran. A few seconds later, the fire reached the gas, and the truck exploded. Ryouga ignored it, and focused instead on the blue and yellow streak of fire that was heading his way. So: Ranma had waited for him to help the man before attacking? How kind.  
  
Bringing both arms up, he braced himself for the impact. Looking behind him, Ichiro winced, as the... man that had saved him was damn near run over by something that looked like a blue comet. The titanic crash sent Ichiro to the ground, and the man with the bandanna seemed to struggle, for the blink of an eye, against the blue energy, just long enough for the black image of another man to become visible in its epicenter. And then, just like that, the man's footing gave out, and the two were exchanging blows, faster than Ichiro could follow, the one sheathed in blue driving back the one, the man, who now had a red and black aura around him. They crashed through a fence into a construction yard, and then they were gone.  
  
Go!  
  
Ichiro remembered, and ran like his life depended on it.  
  
Ranma's fist quivered, and he felt like his knuckles had cracked, he'd hit Ryouga so many times, and so hard. The lost boy was stunned, and Ranma pressed the attack, burying his fist into Ryouga's abdomen. He was about to flow into a roundhouse, to the base of the neck, aiming for the nerve clusters, when Ryouga's hand shot up into a vicious uppercut. Ranma felt his head smash through something, probably a couple layers of plywood, and then another, before the ceiling stopped him. Falling to his knees, Ranma looked around, and finally realized where he was. It was a construction site of some kind. And he was in an uncompleted floor, still plain wood paneling and exposed metal supports, and some windowpanes lying around. There was a packed lunch on the floor, and sets of tools. Obviously, the Nerima construction crew had evacuated when they found out about the fight nearby.  
  
Smart.  
  
Righting himself, Ranma looked down the hole he'd made in the floor, courtesy of Ryouga's uppercut. His head was still ringing, and his Ki was starting to waver at its current level. His endurance had improved dramatically over the last few weeks, but he knew Ryouga's was certainly still superior. Throwing all those thousands of punches, and surviving blasts and impacts that would turn the normal human body to jellied mush wasn't exactly very healthy either. Ranma shook his head, and it quickly cleared out the cobwebs. Ryouga was around, somewhere.  
  
Unless he got lost.  
  
No. That seemed unlikely. Ryouga would almost certainly destroy the whole building before...  
  
"Oh shit!" Ranma's eyes widened, and he yelled out and down the hole. "RYOUGA! Hey, P-chan! Here, P-chan, here piggy, piggy! Ssuu-eee!"  
  
The floor began to rumble, and a deep voice yelled up from below. "RAMNA! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!!!"  
  
"Oh... goodie!" Ranma took a few steps back, a moment before Ryouga jumped up, widening the hole, and landed in front of him, steam literally coming out of his ears. Ranma steeled his nerves, set into a fighting stance, and charged, taking the initiative. Ryouga blocked his exploratory blow, and retaliated with his own combination of jabs. Ranma dodged them, and groaned inwardly - Ryouga had altered his style of fighting, again, for about the twentieth time. Every time they broke with each other, Ranma adjusted his tactics and his fighting style slightly, and so, apparently, did Ryouga.   
  
Bare handed blows, predominantly chops, aiming to cripple or break bone, rained down on the pigtailed martial artist like snow falls in a blizzard. Ranma fielded or avoided most of them, and braced his body for the few that connected. They moved, together, back and forth, for what seemed like an eternity on that floor. Sometimes, walls would get in their way, but they were like nothing now - the two men splintered wood and crashed through doors and dented metal supports almost as a sideshow to the main event that was their fight.  
  
Their war.  
  
Ranma heard a drywall behind him shatter, more than felt it. Ryouga's blows were like bullet trains, hitting him at hundreds of miles per hour. To his credit, Ranma had hit the lost boy so many times, he'd lost count, but he was still going. Ryouga was like a runaway bull, driven wild with anger and pain, oblivious to damage or danger or the mundane concerns of the flesh. Ranma got a good look at his foe, as Ryouga recoiled from a hard hundred-blow snap kick to the shoulder. They were both beaten and bleeding, with patches of skin torn off altogether, and burns and scrapes over most of their body. But the lost boy was still sheathed in his battle aura, and showed no signs of slowing down, or weakening, or giving up.   
  
Then, Ryouga simply stopped. Taking a step back, he wiped some dry blood from his broken and cracked lips and chin. "Well, Ranma... it seems we've come to an impasse."   
  
"What are you babbling about?" Ranma kept his fists raised and ready.  
  
"I mean... it's time to end this." Ryouga brought his hands up as well, and slowly circled Ranma. "I can't afford to have you in my life anymore, Saotome."  
  
"What...?"  
  
"You don't understand, do you?"  
  
Ranma almost laughed. "I should be asking you that."  
  
Ryouga frowned. "You're the bane of my existence, Ranma. But... at the same time... you are my goal. My motivation."  
  
"Should I be complimented by that?"  
  
"Maybe." Ryouga sighed. "This fight only proves it. No matter which one of us lives, so long as both of us breathe, this won't end."  
  
"You're delirious, P-chan. Did I hit you one or two hundred too many times?"  
  
Ryouga chuckled, softly. "Listen, Ranma. If I won, here, what would you do?"  
  
"You're not going to win, P-chan. Don't worry about it."  
  
"What IF?"  
  
"If, by some miracle, you ...walk out of this better than I do, I'll just beat ya later anyway!"  
  
"Exactly. And if you win?"  
  
"If I win." Ranma paused. "If I win... you'll just come back again, won't you?"  
  
"Yeah." Ryouga nodded, slowly. "That's about it. There is no way out."  
  
They stood in silence.  
  
"That's why," Ryouga spoke up, voice cold. "That's why you won't walk out of this fight at all, Ranma."  
  
"You...?"  
  
"I would." Ryouga smiled, canines visible. "I will."  
  
"You think Nabiki'll like you after that? You think anyone will?"  
  
"Nabiki," Ryouga said the word slowly, almost softly, before his voice hardened. "Nabiki will get over it. And if she hates me... so what? I'm a loner, Ranma! I've got nothing to lose... except my worst enemy. And the way I see it, I'll be doing Ukyou, Shampoo and Mousse a favor."  
  
"You really hate me, don't you?" Ranma bit his lip. "Why? Why do you... why do so many people hate me?"  
  
"Maybe you should be asking yourself that, Saotome."  
  
"I never wanted anyone to hate me!" Something in Ranma just... cracked, and he yelled, now, without caring who would hear. "I never wanted THIS! I... we could have been friends!"  
  
Ryouga seemed aback by Ranma's sudden outburst. "R... Ranma..."  
  
"Look at us, damnit! Look at what we are! What this... what you're hatred made us! FOR WHAT!?"  
  
"HATRED IS ALL I HAVE!" Ryouga snarled, his fists clenched nearly to the point of drawing blood. "It's all I have! My hatred kept me going... it kept me alive... and damn me to Hell, but I was willing to forgive you! Damn me, but I WANTED to be friends! One kind word! One apology! One moment, and I would have forgiven you! But I got nothing! You mocked me... you humiliated me... you ruined my LIFE! I don't think you'll ever truly understand just why, or how, but you did... and I'll NEVER forgive you! NEVER!!"  
  
Ranma watched, stunned, as Ryouga's Ki went wild, tearing at the walls and the floor, its fury belying that of its master.   
  
"Then... I'm... I'm sorry, man," Ranma said, though his voice was only a whisper. Ryouga's eyes opened, and they burned with an inner fire that no amount of kind words could put out. Ranma wiped blood from his split lower lip, and readied to use his final attack. "I really am."  
  
***  
  
Just two days before the Duel...  
  
"Damn you Ranma. Damn you to hell. Damn you to the darkest, deepest, shit shoveling pits of... hello, what's this?" Ryouga pushed through a thicket of bushes and into an open clearing in the woods where a small wooden house, run down, but serviceable in an emergency, stood in stark contrast to the wilderness around it. Examining it for any external signs of occupation - looking into the boarded windows, and searching the ground around it for trash, Ryouga came to the quick conclusion that it was either totally abandoned, or recently whoever had lived there last (squatters) had just left.  
  
Still, it was the first sign of human habitation since Ranma had gotten him lost, and he'd left Nerima. Knocking first, and careful to reign in his strength and not break down the door, he waited a few seconds, and gently pushed it open a crack. Looking in, he narrowed his eyes and searched the darkness. There was no movement in the open area, and the Lost Boy opened the door wide.  
  
"Hey! Anyone home?" He called out. Smiling a bit, seeing that no one was around to contest his squatter's rights, Ryouga carefully put down his backpack and umbrella. There was no basement, so far as he could tell, but throwing down his stuff hastily could still damage the floor, and cause leaks and other problems. On the far side of the cabin, Ryouga found a dusty cabinet and some empty drawers. The place had obviously been cleaned out long ago of anything really useful.  
  
Reaching for his pack, Ryouga took out a small sports watch, and checked the time. It was late, and about to turn dark. Finding the cabin, in the middle of nowhere, with his terrible direction, had been a godsend. He'd take the opportunity to get some work done, some reading, too, and maybe to write down his thoughts. He'd been toying with the idea of a diary... journal... for years, but had never really gotten around to it. Though, like all Hibiki's, he tended to roll around thoughts in his head until his ears bled, he only felt the need to write anything down sporadically, never consistently.  
  
Arbitrarily, Ryouga took out one of the newer books his parents had left behind for him - a German book on Western Religious Philosophy. It sounded dull, but the lost one made some headway into it before disgust and boredom set in. Putting the text aside, and closing it after dog-earing the page he finished at, Ryouga took out his trusty hot plate and started heating up a cup of instant noodles. He kept a healthy supply with him, and given that he could easily go two days without food before he really started to feel it, supplemented by the occasional hunting foray and dried and smoked foodstuffs kept him fairly well stocked. As it was, Ryouga could afford to eat at least something every day and still last a month by himself in the woods.   
  
While the water boiled, Ryouga took out some paper, and started to write on the hard cover of the German book. Ever since Saotome had gotten him lost, and he'd wandered out of Tokyo, he'd been largely occupying his mind with assorted shades of vengeance. Whether he'd twist Ranma in half clockwise or counter clockwise was one he was just now getting around to. There were benefits to both ways, really, from both a physiological and artistic point of view.   
  
"Damn you, Ranma," Ryouga repeated, and leaned back, sighing deeply. Dismissing thoughts of revenge, at least for the moment, he turned instead to another old standby - Tendo Akane, and his curse. Or at least he tried to focus on Akane.   
  
Nabiki.  
  
"Nabiki... Tendo Nabiki," he spoke the name, and closed his eyes. In his mind's eye, he could see her clearly. She was sitting at a desk, in her school clothes, laughing at something he'd said, but not in a mocking way. She understood. She understood him better than anyone, even Ukyou, maybe. Her brown eyes were like pools, and her hair swayed slightly as she smiled at him.  
  
Tendo Nabiki.  
  
She hadn't kissed him. She hadn't even hugged him. She'd hardly showed any real affection, as far as he could remember. They'd talked, and held hands, though that was more because she hadn't wanted him to wander off and get lost. But they'd talked, and enjoyed each other's company. Of course, the same could be said of him and Shampoo, and Ukyou. What made her different? What made her drive all other thoughts from his mind? Was he just easily infatuated?  
  
Slowly, Ryouga began to sketch. He started with the outline of her face, the contours of her high cheekbones, and hints of her hairline. Her eyes, her nose, and her delicate eyebrows... they came from his memory onto the paper unbidden. She was smiling at him, only at him, and in right hand, she had a fresh pencil, just resting on her chin, as if she had been caught in mid-thought. Captured forever. Inspired, Ryouga began to write beneath the picture. He wrote about his travels, about how much he'd enjoyed talking to her, walking with her. It began to pour out, and Ryouga was hard pressed to write as fast as the thoughts translated to words.  
  
Then, slowly, someone started to open the door.   
  
A heartbeat later, Ryouga's eyes were focused entirely on the intrusion. In quick, swift movements, he put the book and paper down, and the pencil, while reaching for his umbrella. His senses expanded, and he reached out with his Ki, trying to predict what or who it was that was making its way inside. He took in a deep breath of air through his nose, and something small and fast darted out of the door and into the cabin. His eyes followed it as it lunged, and he moved to intercept.  
  
...A little girl.  
  
"Hey!" Ryouga stood up, holding his barely-warm instant noodles just out of reach of the young carrot-top. "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Food!!"  
  
Ryouga looked from the girl to the noodles. "Yes... food."  
  
"Can... can I have it?"  
  
"Er..." Ryouga groaned. He hated giving starving people food. This girl would almost certainly be like every other starving hermit or old man or bum he'd ever run across, and end up eating his entire supply of rations. Predictably, the little girl got all teary eyed, and the lost boy's resolve dissolved. Handing her the mostly lukewarm cup of instant noodles, Ryouga blinked, and missed her eat the whole thing in one gulp.  
  
"What are you, a land shark?" Ryouga whispered in awe. Even Ranma and himself didn't eat that fast!   
  
"Mmmm!! Got anymore?"  
  
"Excuse me." Ryouga took a step back. "But who are you, anyway?"  
  
"Oh, sorry!" She gave him a quick but polite bow. "I'm Kurumi. Tendo Kurumi."  
  
"T... T..."  
  
"Ten - do. Kurumi."  
  
"Woah." Ryouga shook his head, willing the unreal thoughts out, to be hopefully replaced by something more believable. "Small world. You wouldn't happen to have any sisters, would you?"  
  
"Just one."  
  
"Ah... good." Ryouga nodded slowly, understanding. Tendo wasn't that uncommon a name. It was a simple and almost comical coincidence.  
  
"Kurumi," A voice, female, and older, came from just beyond the door. Ryouga's eyes focused on it, simply on instinct. This girl's first thought had apparently been to go for the food, who knew what this older version would try?  
  
"In here!" Kurumi called out.  
  
A woman walked in, wearing a ragtag jacket, and holding a large rug beater like some form of staff weapon. She had long brown hair, that vaguely reminded Ryouga of Ukyou's, done in a samurai weave. Unlike his first impressions of Ukyou, however, she was defiantly female - her jacket did little to hide her gender. Ryouga reached up quickly and wiped a bit of blood from his upper lip.  
  
"Kurumi, what...?" The woman stopped in mid-sentence, and saw him. "Um... hello."  
  
"Hi." Ryouga felt a bit nervous, suddenly. Luckily, he seized on a bit of depression and defensiveness - after all, he had found this cabin unoccupied and unclaimed, and he wasn't about to get thrown out so easily - and rallied himself against his natural impulse to freeze up around blatant exposure to the female form. "You must be... Karumi's sister."  
  
"Kurumi," Kurumi corrected.  
  
"Yes. Tendo Natsume," The girl's voice was cold, and had a small undercurrent of hostility. "And you are?"  
  
"Hibiki Ryouga."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I could ask you the same thing. There was no one here when I wandered in." The lost one crossed his arms defiantly. The two started each other down, and sized each other up for a few tense moments. Such was the way of things on the road. Ryouga, of course, would have to yield to her if she wanted the cabin, as a matter of honor, and Natsume could feel that he wasn't a normal person. His Ki was too strong.  
  
"Martial artist?" Natsume spoke first.  
  
"Something like that." Ryouga closed his eyes, confidently. "You are too, I'd think."  
  
"Both of us are!" Kurumi piped up. "And he's got FOOD!"  
  
"Well... this is a spacious cabin." Natsume gave Ryouga another look over, and deciding he was mostly harmless, propped her rug beater against the wall. "There should be enough room for all of us, Hibiki-san."  
  
"I suppose." Ryouga slowly lowered himself to the ground, cross-legged.  
  
"Natsume..." Kurumi motioned towards the empty Styrofoam cup o' noodles.  
  
"I wonder, Hibiki-san, if you could perhaps share some..."  
  
"Food?" Ryouga shrugged, knowing he'd lost this fight minutes earlier. "Ah, why not?"  
  
Actually, he thought to himself, he could think of more than a few reasons 'why not' but they'd never stand up against that little girl's puppy-eyes anyway, so he dismissed them. He pulled over his pack, and fished out two extra cups of noodles. He also dipped into his supply of fresh, clean water, and started heating it. If Nabiki were here, he suspected, she'd probably call him an idiot for not bargaining the food for favors or pocket change. Anything but for free.  
  
"So..." He turned to the two, who were seated on the other side of the cabin. An uncomfortable silence followed. The kind that made most people either want to pass out, or look at some fairly interesting inanimate object. Desperately, Ryouga's eyes darted around, looking for something to distract his mind.   
  
"Is it done yet?"  
  
"Be patient, Kurumi."  
  
Ryouga finally came to the sad realization that there was absolutely nothing interesting at all in the cabin. Lacking options, he turned back to attempting conversation. "So... what're you two doing out here in the middle of Hokkaido?"  
  
"Hokkaido?" Natsume raised a noble eyebrow. "This isn't Hokkaido."  
  
"Of course it isn't." Ryouga sighed. Mentally, he chided himself for not saying 'middle of nowhere.'  
  
"We're searching for someone."  
  
"It wouldn't be Saotome Ranma, would it?"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Oh. Never mind, then. Who?"  
  
"Our father. ...Tendo Soun."  
  
A large sweat drop inched down the side of Ryouga's forehead. "Figures."  
  
***  
  
"Come on! This way!" Akane yelled over her shoulder, as she stopped at the burning wreckage of a medium sized truck. Behind her, Nabiki, Kuno, Mousse, Shampoo and Ukyou all ran, ahead of a small group of other students who were hesitant, now, to be anywhere near the fight they'd all wanted to see just moments before. Akane felt the metal trunk of the overturned vehicle. It was still hot. A nearby fire hydrant was broken and streaming water out and onto the side of the road.   
  
"Talk about property damage! This is SO cool!" A brown haired student said approvingly. Traffic had been cut off, and police were starting to arrive, but even they knew to keep their distance. Already, the streets and roads were clear - no one was getting near the area, and those that were already there were generally wise enough to get the hell out of Dodge while they still could.  
  
"Where are they?" Mousse looked around and grabbed his friend's slender shoulders. "Ukyou! I can't see them anywhere!"  
  
"Idiot!" Ukyou smacked him on the back of the head. "That's a telephone pole."  
  
"Oh." Mousse scratched his head, nervously. "Sorry."  
  
Ukyou just sighed and shook her head. "They should be around here somewhere. I can't tell where, though..."  
  
"There!" Nabiki pointed up, and on cue, the half complete building trembled slightly, and one of the supports seemed to just give out, collapsing part of the third floor, and a greater deal of the fourth and some of the second. Before anyone could say anything else, an explosion rocked the same area.   
  
"Yeah... that's them alright!" Akane was about to head in that direction, when something small and fast cut her off.  
  
"I don't think so, Miss Tendo." Cologne stood on her staff, her voice level and calm. "No one is getting near them. It's too dangerous for any of you."  
  
"That's my... those are my friends in there!" Akane tensed to try and push past the old woman.  
  
"Just try it, little girl." Cologne's voice left little doubt that she was going to follow through with her unspoken threat.  
  
"Vile troll! Thou wouldst dare threaten the beautiful Akane Tendo?" Kuno stepped forward dramatically, bokken raised, his hair catching the breeze. In the background, lightning flashed. "You would dare incur the wrath of the BLUE THUNDER?"  
  
Cologne blinked.  
  
"Well, fiend? Spawn of Ogres? Evil midget? Old... mountain... woman?"  
  
"Are ...you for real?" The Matriarch raised an eyebrow.  
  
Kuno proudly laughed. "Yes, I am the great Blue Thunder, and you would be wise to supplicate yourself and entreat my forgiveness, troll woman, lest you taste the bitter sting of my mighty blade!"  
  
"Stupid stick-boy." Shampoo tapped him on the shoulder. Kuno turned, and came face to face with a set of knuckles, the pride of the Amazon village.   
  
"Truly... thou doest have... a strong punch.... Maiden," The scion of House Kuno mumbled, as he slowly wilted and fell to the ground.  
  
"Oww!" Shampoo rubbed her right hand. "Stick boy have too, too hard head."  
  
"No kidding." Nabiki turned away, towards the building. "Ryouga-kun... Don't..."  
  
"Stand still and DIE!" Ryouga kicked, and his shin smashed into, and through, a metal bracer around an already destroyed door. Ranma took particular care to avoid those blows. Ryouga had, previously, kicked a metal support column, and deformed it enough that the floor above them had given in and come down all around them. Ryouga had somehow, taken it in strike, and kept going, almost like it hadn't happened.  
  
Ranma could feel that he was starting to tire. He suspected Ryouga was more than a little winded, too, but not nearly as badly as he was. The slightly smaller boy's lungs hurt, legs hurt... virtually every muscle hurt, and protested every move, and howled in pain with every blow that made it through his defenses. Even hitting Ryouga was beginning to hurt, and Ranma could see that his knuckles were bloody and raw, from hitting the lost boy. How long had they been fighting? It felt like hours... maybe more than a day...  
  
"Damn you, stand still! You blasted COWARD!" Ryouga's fist plowed into a wall, and Ranma ducked out and away from the enraged Hibiki.   
  
"Come on, you swine," Ranma taunted, hoping the bold words would make up for lacking actions.   
  
Ryouga didn't buy it.  
  
"YOU...!" Ryouga reached to his side, and pulled out a large brick. "Bakusai Tenketsu Tokudan!"  
  
"Special?" Ranma gasped, and watched as Ryouga threw the brick. It was a good throw, but Ranma easily dodged it.  
  
Ryouga reached for another, from a pile of them. "Bakusai Tenketsu Tokudan!"  
  
Ranma dodged it again, and it fell somewhere behind him, missing him by several inches. "What are you doing, P-chan? Wasting time?"  
  
"Baka!" Ryouga's hands moved quickly, throwing one brick after another. Ranma easily dodged them all.  
  
"Che!" Ranma laughed, his cockiness returning full force. There were hastily thrown bricks lying all around him. "Some Special attack! More like the 'Short Bus' Express!"  
  
"Yeah?" Ryouga took a step forward, and draw his belt.  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Yeah?" Ryouga smiled, and the belt became a belt sword.  
  
Ranma clenched his teeth, and took a step back... onto one of the bricks. He saw Ryouga step back, an instant before the brick exploded under Ranma's foot. The pigtailed boy fell back, onto three more bricks. In seconds, the entire floor was consumed in a blast of hot air, bits of metal and wood and mortar raining down everywhere. Ranma blinked, having blacked out for a few seconds, and found his whole body numb and unresponsive. He looked up, and saw, behind the stars and pretty dots of light, a massive hole in the ceiling, bits of sparking wires and plaster hanging lazily from its edges.   
  
He also felt... wet.  
  
"Oh no." He groaned, his voice high-pitched and no longer his own. Ranma got to his feet, quickly, remembering that Ryouga was probably only one or two floors up. He looked down, at his chest, and saw them. Jugs. He was female - at the worst possible time. Ranma groaned, and then looked back forward just in time to see a familiar form crash through the ceiling, and land on both feet, still wielding a Ki-blade-sharp belt sword.  
  
"Finally showing your true colors, Saotome?" He smirked, and advanced. "Don't think flashing your goodies will help you either... it's nothing I haven't seen before."  
  
"Shut up!" Ranma looked behind him, quickly, and saw that the puddle of water he'd fallen into, caused by an icebox he'd fell onto, and smashed to bits. It wasn't nearly enough to be of any real use against Ryouga.   
  
"Don't even think about it." Ryouga spat a bit of blood to his left. "No fountain of water is going to save you this time."  
  
"I said shut up!"  
  
"Oh no. This is my party, and I'll talk if I want to." Ryouga took another step forward. "I think I'll stop you with my Yubisaki Ishimi Miketsukan, then either pound you into a fine paste, or..."  
  
His belt sword sliced cleanly through a concrete pillar. "Or... you know."  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Stupid pig. You still don't get it, do you?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You think Akane cares about you? You think she's your friend? She only talked to you because I told her to!" Ranma saw Ryouga visibly flinch. "I know about Uuchan, too! Guess what, P-chan? My idea! I told her to be nice to you, but frankly, she's getting kind of tired of playing pretend."  
  
"Y... You.... No!" Ryouga shook his head, and his voice was suddenly very small, and very unsure, and finally... finally, very afraid. "No!"  
  
"You get it now?" Ranma-chan clapped her hands. "Well, good for you, piglet, I can call you piglet, can't I?"  
  
"I..."  
  
Ranma smirked, driving the nail in the coffin, though he wasn't entirely sure whether the coffin was his, or Ryouga's. "As for Nabi-chan... let's just say that she placed her bets where they've always been."  
  
~~Snap~~  
  
"That seemed to do it," Ranma thought, taking a few steps back. There hadn't been room for this technique on the upper floors, but down here, there was just barely enough. "Now... all I need to do is survive for a few seconds..."  
  
"I'm... going... to tear... you apart." Ryouga threw his belt sword aside. "WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!!!!!"  
  
Outside, Shampoo blinked a few times. "Great grandmother?"  
  
Cologne stood watch over the group, her back to the building. Something was prickling the back of her neck and setting off her own well honed danger sense. "Yes, child?"  
  
"Is lower floor supposed to be glowing like that?"  
  
Cologne turned, and saw it a moment before the heat hit her. It was like a tidal wave of raw, red, angry Ki. Overhead, the sky darkened. Cologne grimaced. This was worse than she had imagined.  
  
"What's going on?" Nabiki started to run forward, but Cologne cut her off and kept her back. "What's happening in there? I can feel the heat...!"  
  
"Um..." Mousse started to say something.  
  
"We..." Ukyou blinked away tears, shielding her face with her arms. "We have to do something!"  
  
"There is nothing any of us can do." Cologne could feel it, now; the Ki was coming off in steady waves. "Except stay away."  
  
A spiral was forming.  
  
Ranma moved like he'd never moved before. Ryouga was attacking him in an almost insane fury, with little vestiges of technique or style left. They'd both been long drowned out by the pure hatred and rage boiling out of the lost boy's aura, and crashing into everything nearby. Papers nearby had either burned away, or been blown to ash. Ranma himself, could feel the heat, even protected as he was by his Soul of Ice. Just a few more steps... just a few more.   
  
Behind him, Ranma heard a wall fall apart from the air pressure of Ryouga's blows alone. The lost boy was attacking without true technique, yes, but his speed and power were both at incredibly high levels. A single blow from him, to Ranma's weaker female body, and she'd barely have enough time to scream before he set on her and tore her to bits with his bare hands. Looking at Ryouga, Ranma could barely see any hint of the occasionally friendly, always depressed or shy lost boy that he'd thought, once, that he could have been friends with. There was nothing left of the little boy, who cried tears of bitterness over his 'theft of the curry bread.' Those things seemed like a lifetime ago.   
  
Maybe they were.  
  
It was too late now.  
  
Ranma felt himself near the center of the spiral. He'd trained with Cologne, and he'd seen it in action, but Ranma had never actually executed the Hiryü Shöten Ha. He'd come close to thinking about using it, just to make sure he could actually do it, before he found out Ukyou's secret. Ukyou... he could have, would have, eventually used it on her, before he found out. His thoughts on her, and the past, he hesitated in the present for a fraction of a second. In that instant of indecision, Ranma saw the specter of death, cloaked in the garb of anger-given-form. He hesitated, and saw a fist, Ryouga's, crackling with power, descending on him like the vengeance of an angry god. A sudden chill came, past muscle... past bone... deeper somehow, and touched Saotome Ranma. A dull resignation came and went. Saotome Ranma doesn't lose!   
  
Saotome Ranma doesn't LOSE!  
  
And Saotome Ranma sure as Hell WON'T DIE!!  
  
Strength rose up from where there had been none, and a fist ascended, in defiance of death. And the Spiral... Roared.  
  
Electricity danced from the bottom floor of the building under construction, arching along metal supports, before climbing high to meet the lightning from the sky in a terrible clash that blew out wiring and lights on the entire structure, overloading electronics completely and exploding nearby streetlights. But even the crack of thunder was drowned out by the noise from below. It started low, like a distant rumbling one only felt deep in the pit of one's being. Then, steadily, it rose in power and pitch, from a low base, to a towering howl, like a hundred thousand wolves, crying to the night sky for companionship... or release.   
  
"Nani?" Nabiki held onto the nearest person, in this case Ukyou, for support. The ground was shaking, "Another explosion!"  
  
"Worse!" Ukyou squinted, and pointed at the building. "Look!"  
  
Like the death of a flower, bit-by-bit, the building expanded, and started to simply break apart from the inside. It was almost like nothing was happening at all, when, suddenly and without any prior warning, the uppermost floor erupted like a volcano, spraying wood and panes of broken glass, and metal and even I-beams into the sky. There was total stunned silence, save for the gathering howl of the wind, and the cracking, creaking death throes of the building caught in its epicenter.   
  
"No." Akane seemed ready to run to the building, but Mousse held her shoulder, and she stopped.  
  
"Please, Tendo Akane ..." He said, his voice shaky.  
  
"But." She gulped, fighting back tears. "Ranma... Ryouga..."  
  
Mousse was about to respond, to say something, anything, when the building finally reached its limits, and exploded outward, in a strangely beautiful way, before being drawn inward into the still growing tornado that, by now, stretched from the bottom floor up past the clouds. Clouds that were, even as he watched, fleeing the area like scared sheep. Massive arcs of lightning had free reign, moving from one airborne piece of metal to another, on its way down to the ground. Floor by floor, the building was sucked up, funneled into the tornado effortlessly, and drawn up and away, into apparent oblivion.   
  
"Tendo Akane!" Mousse quickly snaked an arm around the younger girl as she started to rise off the ground. Feeling himself being drawn off his feet as well, the male Amazon threw a chain that wrapped around a nearby telephone pole.   
  
"Hold on!" He gritted his teeth, and looked around. He saw Ukyou, holding onto Nabiki, and Shampoo trying to drag the still unconscious Kuno away. Cologne was nowhere in sight, and before Mousse could try and look for her, his glasses slipped off his face, and he was effectively blind.  
  
"Shampoo!" Ukyou felt herself get lighter. "Shampoo! Get Kuno out of here, damn it!"  
  
"I trying! Stick boy heavy!" Shampoo 'eeped' as she left her feet, still holding Kuno. She screamed, as the gale force winds began to suck her in to the spiral. Already, the Chinese girl could see broken glass, wood, and even massive steel columns spinning around in a dance that promised death to any caught in its embrace.  
  
"SHAMPOO!!!" Mousse roared. "Shampoo! Where...?"  
  
"There!" Mousse heard Akane yell. Firm hands grabbed his chin, and pointed his face in another direction. "There! Hurry!"  
  
"Right!" Mousse drew back his spare hand, and said a silent prayer. He could barely hear Shampoo through the wind. His hand snapped forward, with a heavy weighted yoyo at the end of a firm length of string. He lost sight of it, and for a moment, feared the worst, then, a strong weight tugged at the line.  
  
"Do I have her? Do I?!" Mousse needed to know. Was it her, or...  
  
"You've got them. Both of them!" Akane's voice was joyful, and relieved. Shampoo and Kuno were hardly her best friends, but that hardly mattered right now. Mousse could barely smile, it just didn't seem like enough. Quickly, he and Akane concentrated on taking turns reeling the other two martial artists in.  
  
"Nabiki!" Ukyou felt her grip on the other girl lessen. "Nabiki, hold on, damn it! Don't let go!"  
  
"You... think I want to?" Nabiki held onto Ukyou's hand like a lifeline, which it effectively was. Ukyou's other arm was wrapped around a sturdy concrete telephone pole, which was the only thing keeping her from being swept up into the all-consuming winds.  
  
"Nabiki! Just... just... Nabiki!!! NO!!" Ukyou felt the older girl's hand slip through hers, and saw her form disappear into the blinding wind. "NABIKI!!!"  
  
Nabiki balled her fists and screwed her eyes shut as she fell out of Ukyou's grasp and into the merciless fury of the Hiryü Shöten Ha Tornado. The winds had been raging for some time now, and she knew there was no way it would die down before she was drawn into the funnel and consumed. A sense of total weightlessness came over her, and coupled with a mental distancing from what was happening made the entire experience feel almost ethreal. Tiny bits of... something flew into her, and bit into her flesh, given more than enough kinetic energy by the gusting winds that were, even before she could come to terms with the situation, tearing away at her.   
  
Maybe it was defiance that caused her to open her eyes.  
  
Or simply a lack of caring. If she was to die, she might as well see it coming. Long lashes protected her, somewhat, from being blinded by bits of everything, or even just the wind, caught in the storm. Unexpectedly, her ears popped. Looking below, there was nothing but haze, but up above, she could make out objects, some small, some huge, and some of intermediate size. Her mind realized it for what it was: a killing zone. The height of the tornado had collected a great many things, and it was currently smashing them against each other, like a brutal gladiatorial game at ten... or maybe fifteen thousand feet. She was cold, too.   
  
Awfully cold.  
  
It wouldn't matter in a few seconds. She'd be smashed to paste in the killing zone, anyway. A little cold was only an inconvenience before death. But, then again, Tendo Nabiki had always disliked inconvenience a bit more than one normally did. What a fate! Caught up in some stupid battle between two equally stupid macho idiots. They couldn't have just had a pissing contest or something that wouldn't destroy swaths of the city, could they? No... martial artists who just happened to be boys. Boys who just happened to be capable of razing buildings, and, just by chance, they had to hate each other.   
  
She'd have to remember to haunt them.  
  
Both of them: But especially Ryouga.   
  
At least he could carry a conversation. Besides, he looked a lot goofier when people surprised him. Deciding to make at least a little noise before the Big Crunch, Nabiki inhaled deeply.  
  
Ryouga had had better days. Hell, he'd had better years. And there, indeed, had been a time when he didn't look like he'd been dragged through hell and beaten within an inch of his life. Another impact came, without warning, and Ryouga felt his clothes buckle and give out. He'd been slammed and beaten around by assorted heavy objects for what seemed like hours. He'd quickly used his own Yubisaki Ishimi Miketsukan on his shirt, and tucked in his legs, after the first few had him seeing stars. He was barely holding onto his aura, the only thing keeping him in one piece - the tornado seemed to feed off of it, but finally, at least, it was dying down.   
  
Ryouga had dissolved his shirt, finally, when it was nothing but torn fiber and patches of hardened cloth. The lost boy snarled, as a chunk of steel girder met his back at well over a hundred miles per hour, before slipping to the side and disappearing back into the melee that was the uppermost portion of the Hiryü Shöten Ha. He cursed it mentally, and covered his face only a second before a small hailstorm of glass shards, almost invisible, cut into his arms and legs with a vengeance. Just a little longer... ride it out... survive...  
  
Ryouga's eyes widened and his ears burned.  
  
That was the loudest profanity he'd ever heard.  
  
And... it hadn't come from him...  
  
Ryouga looked down, pin pointing the general area of the voice, and recognizing it after only a second or so yelled out in reply. "Nabiki!! NABIKI!!"  
  
He strained his ears, listening, but didn't get an answer. Taking a deep breath, Ryouga streamlined his body, and plunged steadily downwards in what he hoped was an intercept course. The winds were cutting, now, and not kind to those that struggled against them so actively. A cut slowly formed on a weakened patch of skin on Ryouga's face, spraying a trail of blood over his ear, and onto his bandanna before it was sucked upwards into the maelstrom.   
  
"Ryouga!' Nabiki saw him, just barely, his flickering red and black aura like a beacon in the night. Her voice was hoarse from yelling that one titanic obscenity, but she tried, regardless. "Ryouga! Ryouga!!!"  
  
He seemed to be looking around.  
  
"Ryouga! You better not get lost on me now, damn it!"  
  
The aura shifted slightly, paused, and blazed brighter, like a comet, as he raced down, against the wind. She could see his face now... why was he blushing? Nabiki looked down, and saw that her collar had been shredded, and that she was displaying a fairly generous amount of cleavage. If he passed out now, they'd both be as good as dead. Covering herself with her hands, Nabiki sighed inwardly. The whole situation might have been really funny if not for that imminent and continuing threat of intense bodily harm.  
  
"Nabiki. What are you doing here?" He closed in until they were face to face, his blood flow now back under control. A strong hand reached out, took her by the shoulders, and brought her close to him. Without another word, he seemed to surround her like a glove, or a shield, against the biting wind and shards of debris. His arms encircled her, and pressed her to his chest. For the first time in what seemed like forever, she felt safe.   
  
"Nabiki." He said again. "Are you all right?"  
  
Nabiki bit back a retort about nearly dying, and instead simply shook her head. No longer constantly battered by the elements, she could feel her wounds, and cuts and scrapes and a hundred other things, vying for attention in her mind with increasing levels of pain. Nabiki wasn't used to it, not at all, and she surprised herself when tears never came. She'd never hurt so badly before, and for some reason, she couldn't cry if her life depended on it.   
  
"Just hold on. I'll get you out of here." He moved, and changed his position so that he was standing straight, and she was on top of him. He angled himself so that the wind hit his back, and still shielded her, as he skimmed down the edge of the tornado. Nabiki saw his arms fold gently over her abdomen, holding her firmly in place. He was up to something, and her ears popped again, as they descended rapidly. The sudden realization of what he planned on doing hit, and she reached down, her hands on his. The air was whizzing by now, and everything was a blur.  
  
Nabiki closed her eyes, and felt his aura around her get stronger until it literally enveloped her completely. It felt like pinpricks on her skin. It felt almost alien, and she resisted it. It was starting to burn, and she had to fight not to shudder. The emotions were coming strong, now, and with will alone, she let the Ki into her all at once. He was giving this to her, giving himself to her, and she could taste the anger, the rage, the depression, every emotion from every fold of Ryouga's mind entered hers. She saw memories, hidden memories, of a boy, barely old enough to tie his shoes, alone in the forest. His first tears... tears of loneliness and abandonment - his only tears for such a thing, and then never again. Never again, because it became all he knew of life.   
  
Hidden memories.   
  
She saw him, only a little older now, with a large man, his face marked with stubble. Ryouga attacked, and the man parried the blows easily. Words of encouragement from his father, especially... so rare as to be more precious and treasured than the most expensive jewels. Hidden memories. Memories of being lost, of searching for days to get to school, only to face quiet mockery at the hands of cowards. The humiliation. The hate... was palpable, directed not so much at his tormentors, as it was at himself. Darkness. She saw a dark sea, with no end, no island, and no hope of rescue.   
  
And Tendo Nabiki cried.  
  
Ryouga found solace from the agony of the descent in his mind. He concentrated on directing his Ki into Nabiki, letting it seep into her body and her bones and her soul, fortifying her. When the impact came, the final impact, she would need it to survive, even as it left him feeling drained, and suddenly, very weak. His mental barriers and controls began to slip, and as they did, he felt the feedback from his charge. He found himself in another body, wracked by the shadow of ever-present demons.  
  
He could see, now.  
  
Brief flashes, like a slide show: a woman and her three girls. He saw himself... herself... watching, from behind the screen of the dojo, as another girl, young, with bluish black hair, sparred with an older man in a white gi. The sadness, the loneliness, the fear of rejection and ...nothingness was like a wave. Failure. It washed into Ryouga, and through him, like an unstoppable tide. Hidden Memories. He saw Kasumi, young, probably only nine, on the tips of her toes, cooking next to a tall woman. Both had their backs to him. Kasumi looked over her shoulder, and he seemed to lock eyes with her for only a fleeting moment, before she turned back to helping her mother, and her mentor.  
  
Hidden Memories.  
  
Then, Ryouga felt something strange, uncomfortable, and yet familiar. He saw a boy, with wavy black hair and a perfect smile. Somehow, this boy was charming and suave, despite his youth. A single red rose in his hand rose to eye level, and things got light. It was, he noted, the sort of lightness at the apogee of a climb, before the inevitability of gravity, and life, brought things crashing back down. The black haired boy turned, tied a white bandanna around his head, and suddenly, the rose became a wooden sword - a bokken. He spun, his back to her, and went towards someone else... a young woman, her hair long. It took a moment for Ryouga to recognize her like that.   
  
Akane.  
  
Hidden Memories.  
  
Ryouga opened his eyes, a tiny sparkle of wetness appearing, and then disappearing into the wind, as if it was never really there.   
  
And then, there was Silence. 


	12. Learning Curve part 12

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part XII (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
"Look! Up there!" Ukyou wiped a layer of dust from her brow and shielded her view as the clouds cleared, letting the sun shine fiercely down from above. The Hiryü Shöten Ha blast seemed to be dissipating as quickly as it had manifested, and as the winds faltered and weakened, the practiced martial artist could see that high above, silhouetted against the now crystal blue sky, hundreds of suspended shapes, though only the large ones were easily visible.  
  
"What? I... I can't see a damn thing!" Mousse blinked a few times, but as expected, his vision didn't improve. His glasses were gone, now, and though he usually carried a spare, he didn't want to risk putting it on in case the winds picked up again.  
  
"Is it Nabiki? Where is she?" Akane ran out of Mousse's arms, toward Ukyou, her eyes scanning the heavens. Her voice was desperate and hoarse. "Ukyou! Do you see her?"  
  
"...No." Ukyou answered, after a momentary silence. "Um... we better scatter. All that stuff's coming down, and it's doing it FAST!"  
  
"You no have tell Shampoo twice!" The Chinese girl threw a still dazed Kuno over her left shoulder. "Come on, stupid stick-boy. Shampoo save you for some reason."  
  
"But..." Akane began, again, and started to look around frantically. Everyone else was already running in random directions, as the sky began to rain debris of all shapes and sizes. The small bits that had been caught at the bottom of the tornado were the first to come down, like a light drizzle, followed by the slightly larger, but still not too heavy, bits, like plaster. Then, finally, the shards of glass, by the thousands, rained down, the sound of them shattering on the ground bordering on deafening. Akane dove for cover under a large sheet of metal before they came, fortunately, but had to leave her shelter as the massive chunks of concrete, metal and wood began to fall with increasing frequency.   
  
Then, a thunderous impact that was felt, more than heard, caught her attention. Turning, the youngest Tendo saw a small cloud of smashed asphalt, and slabs of pavement upturned by the fall of something. Her mind told her it was probably just a piece of an I-beam, or something else large, but otherwise noteworthy only as one less piece of deadly falling debris. But a feeling, a gut instinct, disagreed. Half in shock over what she was thinking, and half numb with the thought of what she might see, Akane crept closer to the impact site, still wary.   
  
Around her, the last bits of what was once a regular part of Nerima fell, and settled into a dull backdrop. It was like a bomb had gone off, and leveled an entire street block. Car horns were blaring, dogs were barking, and some house alarms had even gone off. Akane only now noticed them amid the devastation of the Hiryü Shöten Ha. the barely audible creaking of broken concrete on concrete relaxing into position was the only sound she could hear. Feeling slightly bolder, Akane kept forward, a single word escaping her dry lips.  
  
"Nabiki?"  
  
Akane reached the edge of the crater, and carefully pushed aside a two-meter long length of the road that was stuck in the air, blocking her view. There, in the center of the devastation, two forms were visible, nearly motionless. Akane gasped, leaned all the way over, and reached down to where her sister lay, limply cushioned by the body of Hibiki Ryouga. Amazingly, miraculously, both seemed to be breathing. Akane wiped her eyes, and half laughed, half choked. Nabiki was alive.  
  
"N... Nabiki..." Ryouga coughed, his voice strained.  
  
"Ah..." Nabiki seemed to snap out of a stupor, and carefully moved her arms a little, resting them on his bare, bruised chest. Turning her head, she saw his face, for the first time since he'd caught her in the Hiryü Shöten Ha blast funnel. "Ryouga-kun..."  
  
"Nabiki." He choked back any more of a reply. "Nabiki..."  
  
"Yes?" She leaned in a little closer, and felt his breath, still hot, but now soft and labored, on her lips.  
  
"Could..." He took a deep breath in, and completed his sentence. "Could you get off me, please? I've got a fight to finish."  
  
Akane blinked. Hard.  
  
"What?!" Nabiki huffed.   
  
"I can't fight with you on me like this," he said, plainly.  
  
"You sure know how to ruin a moment, Hibiki!" Nabiki shook her head, and pushed off him. She was still a bit unsteady, but otherwise fine. She felt a bit sore in places, and unusually tired, but otherwise the pain was largely gone.  
  
"What moment?" Ryouga was even slower to get up.  
  
"What happened to me? To ...us?" Nabiki added, now on another topic entirely.  
  
"Looks like you healed up really well." Ryouga gave her a small smile. "It comes with the territory."  
  
"And... the other things?" Nabiki looked away, blushing a little. "Did you see...?"  
  
"Worry about it later." Ryouga's voice became steady, again, and more than a little cold. "Ranma's coming... He thinks he's won. But ... This isn't over yet. I'm not finished... yet."  
  
The two girls climbed out of the rubble and wreckage just a few seconds before Ryouga did. Indeed, as they looked towards where the building had been, they saw a familiar figure, walking on measured steps, through the haze and the remaining dust clouds, towards them. He looked pale, and dirty, but at least he was male, thanks to more than a few boiling pools of water Ryouga's Ki had created. Torn and ragged clothes were barely hanging onto his shoulders. Bloody splotches covered his ripped pants, and flowed freely from more than a dozen open wounds. It looked like he had a few broken ribs.  
  
Ryouga stood, with visible difficulty. Another deep breath filled his lungs, and he stood straight and tall, again. If Ranma looked bad, Ryouga looked worse. The lost one was the perfect picture of a beaten man. While his eyes were unharmed, and he could still see perfectly, he had bruises across virtually the rest of his visible body - a slight limp hampered him noticeably, and he had what looked like one or two broken ribs on his right side. Akane also noticed something else a millisecond after Ranma did, even as Ryouga tried to disguise it. It was the reason Ryouga had asked Nabiki to get off him.  
  
His left arm was dislocated at the shoulder.  
  
"I've seen hell because of you, Saotome." Ryouga took a few steps forward. His battle aura was non-existent.  
  
"Ryouga... it's over. You really do look like you've been through hell." Ranma's words were sincere, but he warily raised his hands in defense. "Don't make me put you down."  
  
Ryouga, somehow, perhaps beyond pain, laughed.  
  
"What?" Ranma's pride got to him, quickly. "You think I'm bluffing?"  
  
Ryouga held out his good arm, and gently pushed Nabiki aside. As he did, she resisted, and grabbed him by the elbow. "Ryouga-kun! Stop! It's over!"  
  
"No!!" That one word left no room for argument, or debate, but he still went on, and using a fraction of his still formidable strength, pushed her out of the way. "This doesn't end... until one of us is beaten, broken... crushed!"  
  
Akane was about to say something, when Ryouga cut her off.  
  
"And I am far from beaten!" Ryouga closed his eyes, as if concentrating on something deep and hidden away, and opened them, renewed by some inner strength. "The Cycle ends today. I'll never endanger those I care about by letting this happen again. I'll fight, and I'll win, even if it costs me my life!"  
  
"Ryouga-kun! Ranma-kun! Please!" Akane tried to reason with the two, but it was too late. Ranma was growling, and concentrating his Ki. Ryouga was like a statue, and several times as immovable, when he set his mind to it.  
  
"If that's the way you want it, Ryouga." He started to move into the Umisenken stance.  
  
"Ah. No you don't!" Ryouga reached to his shoulder, grabbed it firmly with his good hand, and with an audible pop, put the joint back into place. "Me first."  
  
"You know, just when I think you can't get any more inhuman..." Ranma smirked. "You're still too wounded to fight, Ryouga. You're too badly hurt to beat me. Give up now. Please. I don't..."  
  
"A remedy... then." Ryouga felt his mind begin to switch to combat mode, narrowing and focusing on a single, solitary point. He was hurting, and the damage was limiting the amount and intensity of Ki that he could manifest and use. Ranma was going to use the Umisenken, and unless Ryouga could manage to get him angry enough to attack recklessly, he would barely be able to fight back. The lost boy's mind raced, and ultimately came to the same decision he knew he'd have come to anyway. A desperate man couldn't afford to be picky.  
  
The lost boy growled, and the world fell silent. The earth was calm, for a moment at least; even the wind died. Two hundred feet away, and closing, Ukyou, Mousse and Shampoo all felt it coming before it hit; a sense of gathering, in the air and all around them. It was as if some terrible bomb shelter, packed with munitions and explosives, that had laid dormant for years, buried and forgotten, capriciously decided to simply give up and explode in one gargantuan, city-shattering cataclysm. The sense of immeasurable pressure building grew when Ryouga closed his eyes, lowering his head and raised his clenched fists, as if in pain.  
  
Ranma instantly realized what his opponent was doing.  
  
Ryouga wasn't just dipping into the Abyss... he was diving head first into it.  
  
A wind, like dry ice, descended around those present, and there was a faint, barely-noticeable tremor in Ryouga's body, for just a moment, as if his power was fighting to escape from his body, but he kept holding it in. Crackles of white Ki, a color none present had ever seen Ryouga manifest, appeared with rapidly rising frequency, and then, suddenly, and without any further caveat, his Ki exploded into a hurricane of uncontrolled light and fire. Akane and Nabiki stumbled back from the sudden explosion, and Ranma nearly recoiled. Ryouga's mouth opened, and a roar loud enough to be heard almost thorough Nerima exited, assaulting their eardrums.   
  
"No! You... idiot! Ryouga! Stop this now!!" Ranma stumbled back. What the lost boy was doing was suicide - he'd burn out like a light bulb!  
  
Ryouga's face was frozen in mid-shout, his eyes blazing, and the corners of his mouth slowly starting to bleed and tear from the strain. Across his body, Ryouga's wounds began to close, and heal; muscle groups became more defined, and the lost boy's aura seemed to become a small sun. Blood dripped from his clenched fists, and new wounds began to appear, across his body at almost the same rate they began to close up and suture themselves. And then, abruptly, Ryouga's voice gave out, and he fell forward, gasping for air like a fish out of water. His Ki alternated glowing green and red and black, and slowly began to recede. Slowly getting back to his feet, Ryouga smiled, and raised his hands into an open-handed stance.  
  
"What... the hell are you?" Ranma's gasped for words, as he got a good look at the lost boy. Most of his wounds were now just red, sore looking spots. Even the nail-impressions in his palms had stopped bleeding. "What was that?!"  
  
"Everything has a price, Saotome. Sacrifice, and pain... those two are the only currency of true value in this world. I've paid my due. It's worth it... to keep fighting... to make you pay..." Ryouga's voice was still a little shaky. Ranma noticed, and everything began to snap together. The moment the thought came, he attacked with an almost berserker fury. Ryouga seemed totally unprepared, despite his stance, and his bravado. It had been a show - he'd been able to heal himself, though Ranma couldn't imagine how intense the pain must have been to force Ki out and back into his body at such a massive rate, and in such a short period of time, instead of a period of hours like normal Ki enhanced healing required.   
  
However, he had not truly exceeded his limits, despite appearances. Instead, he had carefully consumed the Ki as quickly as he channeled it from within, while maintaining his impressive battle aura. However, while Ryouga's battle aura, as always, had been impressive... and intimidating, it was, in truth, nothing more than a false impression. A true battle aura was representative of the power that its user had at his physical disposal. Ryouga, however, was drained and weakened from the healing, and buying himself time to recover by talking. It was smart, sound, and risky. It would have worked, too, if he hadn't seen Akane and Nabiki, now behind him, looking at his back with shock.   
  
Three hundred blows to the cheek sent Ryouga spinning, blood and spittle pouring from his mouth and nose, and Ranma saw that his guess had been correct. He'd only healed part of his back - most of it was still scarred and bleeding. He'd put everything on display in front of him, so Ranma could see it. That minor mistake was costing him. Ranma kept attacking, forcing Ryouga onto the defensive, where he was weaker, skill and technique-wise. Ryouga was panting heavily now; barely able to keep up with the barrage of strikes Ranma was throwing at him. In the back of his mind, Ranma realized he was short of breath himself, and running on fumes.   
  
"I have to end it now!" Ranma reared back, right arm tensed.  
  
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!!" The two teens echoed, and both flew backwards from the cacophony of blows. They hung, in midair, for the blink of an eye, before flying backwards and away from each other. Ryouga landed on his shoulder, scraping a bloody furrow in the ground, while Ranma landed on his back, ungracefully, with a hard crunch of weakened bone on unyielding pavement.  
  
Ryouga rolled and got to his feet first, holding up a slab of concrete. "Hey, Ranma! Bakusai Tenketsu!"  
  
The block exploded savagely, and all in one direction - at Ranma. By now also on his feet, Ranma got into a low crouch, as if to block the shotgun like blast. Ryouga leaned forward, just slightly, to see what he was going to do, and Ranma took that instant to move, faster than he felt he'd ever moved before. Closing his eyes, Ranma plowed through the Bakusai Tenketsu fusillade, bits of blood trailing from where the larger, sharper points hit, and kept going until his fist, now crackling with Ki, drove home, burying deep into Ryouga's torso, all the way up to the wrist.  
  
"Aa... aahagh!" Ryouga's mouth heaved specks of black blood, and he stumbled back, gasping like a drowning man.  
  
"Hiryü..." Ranma set himself in place, swirled his hands, and brought them forward, inches from the lost boy's body.   
  
"Shöten..."  
  
Ryouga's aura, still angry and hot, began to distort and flow forward, into and around Ranma's hands. The pigtailed martial artist poured every last drop of his own ki into the mixture, and the air suddenly smelled of ozone. The clash of temperatures, and Ranma's final lunge, pushing the forming tornado up and into Ryouga's lower chest, did the rest.  
  
"HHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"  
  
Ryouga's chest glowed, and for all of a second, he was able to fight back the blast, even in his half unconscious state. But, inexorably, his feet began to give way, and, in that instant of weakness, he was enveloped and disappeared into the imperfect, but overwhelming, Horizontal Rising Dragon Wave. The tornado stream first widened, and then narrowed, and a blurred black form was swept up in the current like a leaf. Hundreds of feet away, in the same direction, a thick concrete wall, that had survived even the fury of the last Hiryü Shöten Ha blast, shook, cracked, but ultimately held, as a humanoid shape, beaten and battered, imbedded several inches into it. The limp form of Ryouga Hibiki hung there, for a brief moment in time, or perhaps an eternity to some, before slumping forward and falling to the ground.  
  
Unconscious.  
  
Half the length of a football field away, Akane turned Ranma over, and opened one eyelid to check. "He's out cold."  
  
"Good." Nabiki didn't sound concerned with him in the least. "I'm going to go get Ryouga. If the idiot's alive, that is."  
  
Ukyou and Mousse looked at each other. Finally, Ukyou ran up to Nabiki. "Let's go. Mousse... you know what to do with Saotome, here."  
  
"I do." Mousse chuckled softly, a truly evil sound. Then, suddenly, something in his eyes seemed to change while looking down at Ranma, unconscious at his feet. Then, a set of glasses were over his eyes, and his face was a mask.   
  
At the same time, before anyone else could speak up, Ukyou grabbed Nabiki by the waist, and jumped. It only took three quick jumps to cover the distance, and see the motionless body of the lost boy. Both girls gasped, but Ukyou was far quicker, and checked his neck for a pulse. Nervous, and fighting panic, she fumbled for a second, before finding his carotid. A look of relief washed over her features as she found a pulse, weak but steady.  
  
"Ryouga-kun..." Nabiki helped roll the deceptively heavy martial artist over. Ukyou frowned, and stood over the two, as Nabiki checked for herself, cradling his head in her lap. Silently, Ukyou cursed herself - she could never imagine herself acting like that. Saotome Genma and his worthless son had seen to that. Sighing, she stood by her friend, who, she had once thought could have been more, and watched over him... and her. After a few seconds, Ukyou reached down, and picked Ryouga up. He was damn heavy considering his frame, at least two hundred and fifty pounds, all jammed into a body only slightly larger than a normal man's, but she could handle it.  
  
"We have to get him... both of them to Dr. Tofu's." Nabiki couldn't think of a better place. The Tofu Clinic was judiciously stationed equidistant to most of the Nerima 'hot spots' and it wouldn't be the third or fourth time these two patients had been admitted for a visit. Hopefully, after this, they'd only visit for social reasons. Looking around, as she ran after Ukyou, trying to keep up with the other girl's moderate pace, Nabiki saw, for really the first time, the devastation that the battle between the two martial artists had wrought.  
  
In the distance, Firefighters and Police were cordoning off Furinkan High. It was still pretty much intact, but large chunks of displaced rock and stone covered its roof, and in some places, had even punched through into, thankfully, empty classrooms on the top floor. The athletic fields were a total write off - the soccer field was now a jagged, smoking crater, and everything else, from the baseball diamond to the tennis court were covered in a thick layer of debris that had toppled and covered bleachers, stands, fences, everything. Luckily, the Principal seemed both able and happy to repair damage to the school, as well as renovate it at a whim.   
  
The street below them looked like it had been bombed. There were small craters here and there, and literally tons of debris of all shapes and sizes and types. Broken glass was strewn about liberally, and off to the side, one truck was still burning away, and three parked cars had been crushed, one beyond recovery. All were blaring their car alarms like a trapped animal would scream for help. Of the construction site, there was now only a clean circular crater. Nothing was left standing save a few twisted skeletal ribs of tenacious steel. It was a disaster, but it looked like no one had gotten badly hurt except the two that had caused the damage in the first place. The famous Nerima Construction Corp would be busy the next week cleaning it up, no doubt, but they'd never press charges.  
  
They never did.  
  
Business here in Nerima was far too lucrative. Construction companies loved Nerima like Insurance companies hated it. Besides, martial artist duels were a major tourist attraction for Nerima Ward, drawing people from all over Japan, and even overseas, here, as well as the numerous wandering martial artists looking for a challenge. Not that either Ranma or Ryouga really thought of such things before they decided to start tearing things up all around them. Nabiki then, out of the blue, realized something else. She had no idea which one of them had won. Ranma had fallen down and out after his final attack, and Ryouga was unconscious when she and Ukyou got there to check on him.   
  
Nabiki made a quick decision to tell Tofu to tie them both down very, very securely while they were in his clinic.  
  
***  
  
One-week prior to Ryouga's return:  
  
Ranma smirked. He'd shown up at school, on a lark, to pick up some things, and Mousse and Ukyou had confronted him. Apparently, the two had just finished dealing with the Principal's plans to give the entire school hideous haircuts, something having to do with coconuts or pineapples and the Kunos... Ranma really didn't care, except that the two seemed to have gotten around to making themselves some sort of student's champions. ...It was a spot that had been held by him for over a year.  
  
Ranma cracked his knuckles. "You two better move. I'm not in the mood for this."  
  
"Too bad." Ukyou twirled her megaspatula and advanced.  
  
"We've been receiving some... special training." Mousse's claws glinted in the light. "You won't find us so easily beaten this time, Saotome."  
  
The pieces began to fall in place. "The old freak?"  
  
Well, that explained things - notably Happosai's recent deficit of mischief, and his daytime disappearances. Ranma became wary. Happy was an erratic sensei, but the odd behavior hadn't been going on for any longer than a week at the most, and Ranma had been practicing and working under the tutelage of Cologne for even longer. Confidence quickly overcame concern, and Ranma shook his head slowly.  
  
"You two really are pathetic!" He dismissed them with a flick of the wrist. "Well, come on, then. I don't have all day."  
  
"That arrogance will cost you, Saotome!" Mousse ducked and came in fast, claws cutting through air. Ranma dodged the flurry of strikes, noting that they were at near Amaguriken speeds. Of course, Ranma was still faster, and avoided the strikes with apparent ease. Ukyou, meanwhile, was circling them, waiting for an instant to strike.  
  
So far, it was nothing to worry about.  
  
Ranma was about to retaliate, and put Mousse down, when everything became dark. He back flipped, and realized Ukyou had blanketed the area in a smoke screen, a new and improved one, thicker and darker than he'd ever used before. It had a sooty, oily quality, and began to accumulate around Ranma's eyelashes, and it became apparent that he'd have no chance of seeing as long as he stayed in the smoke. Already, it was building up in his nose and throat.  
  
"Damn it!" Ranma felt a sharp blade nick his side, as he dodged a millisecond too late. He tried to back out, and get out of the cloud, but the attacks kept coming, from every angle, and it was impossible to tell which of his opponents was actually in the cloud with him. Cursing mentally, Ranma lashed out, hoping to hit something with the sheer volume of blows he was throwing. He came close, and felt a whisk of long hair brush past his fist, but nothing solid.  
  
And he was rapidly running out of air.  
  
He tried to jump, but without a direction to jump to, he was simply leaving himself a helpless target. Rolling forward, just as something large, fast, and sharp passed overhead, Ranma felt creeping panic rise up his throat, and it tasted like bile. He was losing! He was helpless! All these weeks of intense training, and he was going to lose to a stupid trick like this?  
  
"No way..." He opened his eyes a crack and looked around desperately.   
  
"Ranma!!"  
  
Akane's voice.   
  
Ranma smirked, and kicked out, heading in that direction.  
  
"Damn it!" Another voice, Ukyou's, came from behind. "Mousse!"  
  
"I'm on it!" Mousse's voice came from the side, to intercept, forcing Ranma to step aside and avoid a strike that hit only ground. Mousse was good, and kept at the pigtailed martial artist, hoping to get him lost and confused in the smoke again, but Ranma was ready. Somehow, Mousse could see him in the cloud, and Ranma took advantage of it. He drew Mousse into a quick spiral, but the blind one jumped out before it was complete, no doubt recognizing it for what it was and bailing.  
  
Ranma kicked up and out in that instant, hitting Ukyou as he jumped in to change places with the male Amazon. Oddly, Ranma felt padding give slightly from the impact, and realized that his former friend must have been wearing it to try and dampen the strength of Ranma's blows. Ranma sneered at the thought. Uuchan had reached an all time low, it seemed.  
  
Finally, Ranma felt himself leave the cloud, and he sucked in a deep breath, burning lungs a tribute to Mousse and Ukyou's trap. While physically weaker than he was, generally slower and comparatively overmatched in skill, the two opponents were consistently crafty. Unlike the Kunos, Ukyou and Mousse planned traps that worked, sometimes too well. Ranma landed roughly due to his exhaustion, but recovered quickly.  
  
He looked up, and saw Mousse helping Ukyou up. They were both wearing goggles, and Mousse's were probably his prescription. Clever, if not very honorable, but their trap had failed. He'd escaped, and now... now they'd take their beating like men. Still breathing heavily, Ranma charged, and body checked Mousse just as Ukyou got to his feet, holding his chest as if in pain. Ranma ignored him for the moment, and laid into the male Amazon with a combination of blows, culminating in an uppercut that sent Mousse airborne and into a nearby tree's branches.   
  
Turning, Ranma barely had time to catch Ukyou's megaspatula between his hands a half second before it could cut into his throat. Using his superior strength, he forced it aside, and used his momentum to drive his left elbow into Ukyou's face, giving her a black eye. "I'm tired of this crap, Ukyou!"  
  
Ukyou grimaced, and tried to respond with a backhand, but Ranma caught it, and bent the arm into an arm lock, twisting Ukyou until his back was against Ranma's chest. "I'm tired of these stupid traps... and attacks!"  
  
He pushed Ukyou forward, and tightened his grip. "And I'm tired of you! We were friends once, but if you cross me again, you'll regret it, do you understand me?"  
  
"B... Bastard!" Ukyou struggled. "Let me go!"  
  
"Why? So you can try and cut my head off again?"  
  
"One of them, at least!"  
  
"Oh, very funny. Why do you hate me so much anyway, huh? What'd I ever do to you?"  
  
"You..." Ukyou struggled again, with greater intensity, but to no avail. Chest heaving, Ranma could see tears in his eyes, and suddenly realized Ukyou's voice had increased in pitch.  
  
"Ukyou?" He leaned in. "Geez, don't cry! You're actin' like a girl!"  
  
"I AM A GIRL, you ...you ...JACKASS!!"  
  
"Wha... what?"  
  
"I'm a girl!" She broke free as Ranma's grip loosened to nothingness. Turning to face him, standing tall, she took his hand and placed it on her chest. Ranma's hand trembled like a leaf, and he quickly drew it back like it'd been in the hottest of fires. Stumbling backwards, he almost tripped on his own feet.   
  
Ukyou was a girl.  
  
Ukyou was a girl.  
  
Ukyou was a GIRL!!  
  
"Ukyou... You... you're..." Ranma's mind raced, unable to totally comprehend and deal with everything that had been revealed. Looking at him - her, Ranma suddenly felt sick. He couldn't have... he couldn't have... no! He'd never do that to a girl! Jusenkyou! Maybe, maybe...  
  
"I've always been a girl!" She advanced, and Ranma fell back, his question killed before it left his lips.  
  
"Oh, kami... Ukyou... I'msosorry! What... I mean, why?"  
  
Ukyou gritted her teeth, tears streaking down her cheeks. "I'm the fiancée you left behind, you bastard! I'm the girl you and your damn father abandoned!"  
  
And, in typical fashion, Ranma chose the absolute worst thing to say.  
  
"You mean... Aw, man, I've got another fiancée?"  
  
The slap was like Akane, times ten. It was the sound of a small thunderclap, and then there was silence, broken only by Ranma falling limply to the ground. Ukyou looked down at him, and choked back a sob.  
  
"No. ... You don't."  
  
***  
  
"It's been a week." Hibiki Ryouga poked his bandaged left hand experimentally. "Still hurts."  
  
Sighing, he looked up at the sky.  
  
The roof was his quiet place.   
  
It was a place where he could escape from the madness, and the mundane, and the complicated nuances of being around others, and return to something simpler. The sun was slowly setting, and the sky was briefly ablaze in color. There were hues of red, orange and blue, all on natural display, only slightly marred by the lights and noise of the surrounding human world. It was the colors in the sky he loved. It reminded him of the sunsets he'd seen in China, filling him with a sense of comfort, and humility - of the insignificance of being.   
  
And Ryouga knew he needed both of those things.  
  
Across the sky, a flock of birds took to the air, perhaps to wait the night out somewhere else, maybe the park where Ryouga had spend so many Nerima days and nights. Did Mousse ever fly with them? Was Mousse ever lonely enough to find companionship in the loss of his humanity? Ryouga knew the answer before he'd asked it. Mousse may have been desperately obsessed with Shampoo, he may have been a blind duck, but he'd never given up what made him, him.  
  
Ryouga smiled. Mousse seemed to have found companionship, now, regardless. He'd woken up and seen the two of them, talking animatedly. He'd recovered from the fight before Ranma had, naturally, though the pains of his desperation ploy at the end still haunted him. Brief flashes of pain occasionally reoccurred, but it was just that: physical pain, a factor long since dealt with. A minor annoyance at most.  
  
Before leaving, he'd spoken with Ukyou privately. She didn't want the feud with Ranma to continue. She'd explained what had happened. Despite Saotome, or in spite of him, she had decided that enough was enough. Ryouga tended to agree. There had been a time in both their lives, not very long ago at all, that revenge had been all they had left to cling to. Ukyou was moving on. She had already started down that road when Ranma and Ryouga had fought, days ago.   
  
She was healing her soul.  
  
Ryouga was still nursing his back into being.  
  
The sun was almost gone, now, and soon the world would be dark, like it always was, and he'd be alone in the night. He'd been along in the night since they day he was born, and it had always been preferable to being alone in a crowd, like he was on the occasions he'd tried to socialize and join the bulk of humanity. Ryouga closed his eyes, not wanting to see the sun leave for the day, to see it abandon those who depended on it. Instead, he concentrated on the smells and the sounds, and even the Ki of the world around him.   
  
Footsteps.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Hey." Ryouga opened his eyes, and looked up at her.  
  
She sat down in the roof tiles, next to him. "Watching the sun set, huh?"  
  
"Not really." He admitted, and leaned back, looking up at the sky. "I don't really like watching the sun set. It's depressing."  
  
In his mind, the sun setting and the sunset evoked very different feelings.  
  
"That's too bad. It really is beautiful." Nabiki took in the colors, and the contrasts.  
  
"Never a camera handy, eh?" Ryouga straightened his vest.  
  
"Never." Nabiki nodded, and slowly reclined against him, her head on his chest. To her surprise, he didn't flinch. They lay there, in silence, as the sun slowly disappeared, abandoning the earth for another half day.  
  
"Ryo-kun," she tested.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You never really said much about what happened between us. During the fall."  
  
"I'm not too sure myself... Nabi-chan." He blushed a bit, despite his best efforts not to. A part of him feared she'd be insulted by the nickname, and waited for the look of revulsion on her face. When there was none, however, it filled him with unfamiliar self-confidence. Was this what it was like to have a ... relationship? It felt good: so very good. "Something special, I'd say."  
  
"It was."  
  
Somewhere in the distance, a duck quacked.  
  
"I think I might stick around for a while," Ryouga finally said. "If... if... you don't mind, of course."  
  
"You can't have another fight with Ranma like that last one. You know that. ...That's why you're really up here, isn't it?"  
  
"I don't need to be downstairs when he comes back from Dr. Tofu's." Ryouga hesitated a bit, but sensed what Nabiki was thinking. "I want to bury the hatchet with him. I really do. If he's willing to forgive... I want to move on. But... but it's going to take some time. I just, I just don't want to deal with that tonight. It's too nice out."  
  
"Put it off for a rainy day, is that it?"  
  
"I can't do much else on those, can I?" He smiled, half melancholy, half content.  
  
"Besides," he continued. "Here I am, up on the roof with the most beautiful girl I know, watching the sunset."  
  
"Not watching the sun set," she corrected.  
  
"Yeah." He shook his head, giving up on this one. Against his previous inclinations, he and Nabiki sat up, shoulder to shoulder, and watched the star dip into the horizon. On a whim, a saying he had heard somewhere before came to Ryouga's lips.  
  
"Love will die if held too tightly; love will fly if held too lightly." He sighed, but smiled. "Lightly, tightly, how do I know, whether I'm holding or letting love go?"  
  
"You're an incurable romantic, Hibiki."  
  
"You better believe it, Tendo."  
  
***  
  
"Ranma! Welcome back, son!"  
  
Ranma scoffed. "Hey, pop. Lemme ask you something. When I was out fighting the most important Duel of my life... where the hell were you?"  
  
Genma smiled knowingly. "At a safe distance, of course."  
  
Ranma shook his head sadly, but after a few seconds, a smile crept up on him. "That's probably one of the smarter things you've done over the last year, old man."  
  
The elder Saotome clasped his son on his (uninjured) shoulder. "You did well, son. You made me proud."  
  
"I didn't fight to make you proud." Ranma defended himself, but couldn't help feeling happy that his father had said it anyway. Genma seemed to understand what went unsaid.   
  
"You fought for your honor, and the honor of the School." Genma led Ranma inside the house, where Kasumi, Soun and Akane were all waiting. "Not only did you win the battle, but you won the war. That's why I'm proud of you."  
  
Ranma smiled at that.   
  
"Thanks, pop."   
  
"Now, let's go inside." Genma reverted to his usual self. "Kasumi's prepared a small feast to celebrate!"  
  
Following his father, Ranma quietly removed his shoes. As soon as they were off, Kasumi approached him, looking over his numerous bandages. There was a little disapproval in her eyes, likely directed at both Ranma and Ryouga, but mostly there was concern and relief. Ranma shifted where he stood, a little uncomfortable with the scrutiny.   
  
"I'm fine, Kasumi." He assured her. Only then did she step forward and give him a motherly hug. Behind her, Soun smiled proudly.   
  
"Why, I remember the fights Saotome and I had..." He started to say.  
  
"I'm just glad Ranma is all right. I heard..." Kasumi didn't continue that sentence. "I'm just glad neither of you were seriously hurt."  
  
Ranma's smile faded a little. He hadn't been seriously hurt, but Ryouga... Ryouga's final gambit had cost him. The last few days, they'd shared a room in Dr. Tofu's Clinic. Ranma had heard Ryouga complaining about phantom pain caused by his overload of Ki. The doc had told him he was lucky to be alive, which was a sobering fact. Over time, Ryouga had apparently calmed down enough to talk a few times, and in those conversations neither of them had asked or argued who had 'won' the fight. When it came down to things, it didn't matter.   
  
Winning didn't matter.   
  
It was being alive... that was what mattered. He had survived, and just as important, so had Ryouga. Seemingly despite his best efforts, they had both survived, and now they had to live with that. It was a strange thing. Almost like starting over. ... Almost. Maybe now, just maybe, they could be friends. Or at least rivals. Not enemies.  
  
Never enemies.   
  
"Me too, Kasumi." He gave her a convincing smile, and she stepped back. "It's good to be home."  
  
Soun kept talking about his old rivalry with Genma even as he and Kasumi led them into the living room. Ranma noticed, however, that Akane stuck close to him. Walking slowly, he let the two older Tendos leave him a little behind. He had to force himself not to blush when he realized what he was doing. He wanted...   
  
To be alone with Akane?  
  
Looking at her, in silence, he wanted to know how she felt. He wanted to talk to her. More than anything, he found that he wanted to hear that she cared. That she was concerned. Blinking, he realized something else. "What're you gonna call the pig?"  
  
In Akane's arms, she held the little black piglet he'd given her. Akane looked down at him. "Why... P-chan of course."  
  
Ranma boggled. "That's..."  
  
"A little weird?" Akane finished his sentence for him. "I guess. I just... want us to pick up where things went wrong..."  
  
Ranma didn't quite know what to say in response.  
  
Quickly, Akane changed topics. "Doctor Tofu didn't want me to visit... either of you..." Something liquid in her eyes sparkled. "I'm... I'm really glad you're ok, Ranma. When I saw the fight, and what... what he was doing, and what you were doing... I was afraid..."  
  
"Hey." Ranma's voice was confident and comforting. "Everything turned out all right."  
  
She nodded. "Ryouga..."  
  
Ranma's expression became neutral. "What about him?"  
  
"He's here. Up on the roof with Nabiki." Akane licked her lips nervously. "Ranma... you know I want to be his friend... to put all this bad blood behind us. He needs friends. He needs you to be his friend."  
  
"Me?" Ranma looked away a little.  
  
"And..." Akane stepped closer. "I think you want to be his friend, too."  
  
He was about to answer when suddenly he felt something on his cheek. Soft lips - a quick peck on the cheek. "Welcome home, Ranma."  
  
And Akane was gone.   
  
Blinking, Saotome Ranma tried to come up with something to say before she was gone and failed. Silenced, for one of the few times in his life, he stood there. Stunned. Finally, he touched his cheek gently and smiled.   
  
Home. 


	13. Learning Curve part 13

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part XIII (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
Thump, thump, thump.  
  
Ryouga's eyes narrowed, and scanned to his left and right quickly. Snorting, he realized he'd been hemmed in. Ranma was in front of him, hands out, body tensed to strike. Things were bad. Ryouga's left foot pivoted slightly, in preparation to move, but Ranma saw it and compensated appropriately. Shifting a bit, Ryouga took a step towards his opponent, shoulder low.  
  
"Here!"  
  
A flick of the wrist, and the ball was gone. A third year student caught it, spun, and moved down the court. Ryouga heard Ranma hiss in frustration, and move to cover him as the two edged to the left. The boy dodged a cover from another kid, and passed off to another boy who tried for a two pointer. Ryouga saw, the moment that it was off, that the shot would be wide.   
  
"Damn it!" He faked to the right, to get in Ranma's way, but the slightly faster pigtailed boy was headed for the ball, also knowing that it would miss, and got past without missing a beat. Daisuke got his hands on the ball, and instantly passed it off to Ranma.   
  
"Here I come, pig boy!" Ranma charged in, and Ryouga moved to intercept him before he could get halfway down the court. Ranma stopped short, as he always did when faced with a virtual wall of Hibiki, and jumped a bit, trying to get the three-pointer all the way from where he was. Ryouga, however, had both hands up, and one of the meaty palms got in the way of the shot, forcing Ranma to fall earthward, ball in hand, and unable to keep moving.  
  
"You were saying something, transvestite?" Ryouga made a quick lunge for the ball, and Ranma leaned back, avoiding it.  
  
"Shut up, piglet!"  
  
"Watch Hiroshi!" Ryouga yelled, and hopped someone was on Ranma's classmate. Everyone knew Hiroshi was Ranma's favorite carrier in basketball, because while he couldn't shoot worth a damn, Hiroshi was fast, and had a good eye for passing around the ball.  
  
"I'm on it!" A voice from behind confirmed it. Ryouga focused on Ranma, and smiled. Any second now...  
  
"Come on. Come on." Ranma bounced the ball low, in the direction of Hiroshi. Ryouga looked over his shoulder, saw the kid who should have been covering Hiroshi miss the ball, leaving Hiroshi open to get it and head down the court.  
  
Ranma bolted, but Ryouga stuck with him, keeping him covered. Hiroshi paused near the net, as another older boy came to try and block any attempt at a three pointer. As was to be expected, Hiroshi hesitated, and checked to see if Ranma was open. Ducking a bit, and breathing heavily, Hiroshi waited, before passing it off to the team captain.  
  
"Snatch!" Ryouga's right hand found the ball's surface an instant before Ranma's, and the larger boy spun out as Ranma reached for it, keeping his hand low and heading down the court.   
  
"Somebody cover him, damn it!" Ranma headed off himself, but Ryouga had a head start on him. There was no way he'd catch up in time unless someone got in Ryouga's way.   
  
"Oh... shit!!" Daisuke's eyes widened, and he jumped out of the way as Ryouga steamrolled past him without stopping, flexed his feet, and took to the air. The net shook like a leaf, and the ball hit the ground hard and bounced off to the side. Ryouga landed, saw Ranma, and smiled broadly, flashing his canines. Fist raised, he went over to the other juniors and they exchanged high fives.   
  
A few of them, the faces he recognized, patted him on the back. Actual words of praise reached his ears, and Ryouga carefully sorted through the voices for hints of sarcasm or hidden intent. He'd been 'guest' attending Furinkan for weeks now, getting to know people, and going to some of the classes. He'd placed well in the tests they'd given him(the language related part anyway), but his 'at home' education hadn't covered all the little nuances, and it had been recommended that he take classes over the summer to compensate. He'd come close to waving the whole thing off, but...  
  
Ryouga looked off to the side, and saw Nabiki and a few of her friends, in their gym clothes, watching the game. He'd been apprehensive about attending high school at all, even if for only a few months, but she'd talked him into it. A little too easily, really. As he thought, she caught him looking in her direction and gave a little wave. Blushing, Ryouga bit his lip and turned back to the tip off and the game.  
  
It hadn't been as bad as he thought it would be, to be perfectly honest. His memories of junior high were nightmarish -vicious, annoying brats, incessant teasing, self-centered cliques, and no incentive to even attend. And though he suspected people still snickered and joked about his directional challenges, it was less hateful and more ...light hearted. He'd focused and started taking it in stride, instead of exploding and making a scene. It'd been difficult at first, when he'd started hearing them, but his experiences with Nabiki, and knowing that she had underwent something similar was the greatest help he could ask for. Having someone he could talk to helped more than he'd ever imagined.  
  
Besides, if he advanced over the summer, he'd be a year ahead of Ranma (who had never bothered to take the placement tests). The thought of being a senior while Ranma was a junior was infinitely appealing, if only as some small manner of payback for Ranma getting better grades in junior high.  
  
Smirking, Ryouga got in the pigtailed boy's face, forcing Ranma to try and side step, throwing off his pattern down the court. Though he hadn't gotten into a real fight with Ranma since... since before he moved in with the Tendos, and he had largely given up trying to kill (or maim) his former enemy turned rival, he still derived a great deal of pleasure from making him miserable, and destroying at least little bits of his happiness here and there.  
  
Attending Furinkan and giving Saotome a little friendly rivalry in the one field he was good at: physical education, was almost as entertaining as trying to pound him into an unrecognizable red blob. Basketball, Soccer, Track... the only sport he shied away from was Crew, for obvious reasons. After gym, he attended some of Nabiki's classes, mostly math and science. He used to go to English class, and the one on Chinese, but after falling asleep listening to stuff he already knew inside out, he got thrown out. It didn't really matter - he didn't have to take those classes when school started next year anyway. It was much more productive to spend that time learning things he wasn't so familiar with.   
  
As Daisuke made an easy two pointer, Ryouga growled, and shook his head. Unfortunately, all the best male athletes were in the Kendo Club, thanks to Kuno and his Clan, and while that generally wasn't saying much, it made a big difference in a team game like basketball. He couldn't carry the whole group himself, not with Ranma and his cadre of buddies against him. It was something he'd have to work towards remedying in the future.   
  
Especially with money being placed on the outcome.  
  
It was... strange that Kuno had been absent for so long, though.  
  
"They're both so good. I don't know who to root for."  
  
"Who'd you bet on?"  
  
"Ranma's team by a six point spread."  
  
"Better cheer for pigtails, then." Nabiki interrupted the two girls, all smiles. "88 - 90. Too close for the spread to pay off."  
  
"We all know who you placed your money on." One of the girls, with long light brown hair, nudged Nabiki and gave her a conspiratorial wink.  
  
"Do you?" Nabiki's smile didn't fade.  
  
"You and Akane are so lucky. All the good guys just fall into your hands." The other girl with short, slightly wavy hair put in.  
  
"You mean Akane's hands." Nabiki corrected her, while keeping an eye on the game. "You'll never see half the student body attacking me every morning begging for a date."  
  
"Or buying pictures of me." Nabiki's mind added.  
  
"With Ryouga around? They'd have to have a death wish." The longhaired girl, Ruka, if Nabiki remembered correctly, giggled. Nabiki found it annoying. She knew this girl, in a way. She was one of Akane's underclass friends, and she was on the mental list of those who propagated the myth of the heartless Ice Queen-Bitch Nabiki behind her back. A minor legend that had only recently began to thaw. And while Nabiki had never outright done anything to dispute her reputation, because of its beneficial, if wrongful, nature, she had always secretly hated it.   
  
Three years ago, when she was a Freshman, trying to make a name for herself, and, she admitted it, trying to get another student named Tatewaki Kuno to recognize her from all the other nameless girls that came in from junior high, she had been quite the opposite. An athlete, an excellent student, and even a tutor - it had lasted for a year, before Akane arrived on the scene, and everything went downhill. It became like home, and she became the 'other' Tendo girl.  
  
The thought made her grimace, but Nabiki swallowed her pride, and hid her thoughts. She couldn't really blame her little sister. Akane wasn't doing it on purpose, and while she liked being in the spotlight, she never asked for a lot of what happened to her. She was far too clueless and lacking in common sense to have been behind any sort of scheme to throw her older sister into the social backburner, anyway.   
  
Back in the game, Nabiki saw Ryouga make a quick three pointer, taking the lead by one. Checking the school clock, she frowned - time for one last play. Contrary to what Ruka thought, she hadn't bet on the game at all. It was impossible to predict which way it would turn out, only that it would almost certainly be a close game. Which meant that all the idiots who put money on one team far outscoring the other would default to her. That, combined with her normal cut of the proceeds, would be a good day's pickings.  
  
On the court, Ranma broke past Ryouga, and in a remarkable display of not being a ball hog, passed off to one of the younger Freshmen on the lower classman team, who made an easy under the net shot, that ended the game. Predictably, Ranma went up to Hibiki to gloat, and the two started snarling and tossing threats at each other. 'Talking trash' was the phrase, if Nabiki remembered her English slang. They hadn't really exchanged blows, aside from their 'sparring' sessions, in weeks, and after a few rounds, broke off and walked in different directions.   
  
Nabiki caught up to Ryouga before he wandered off and left the school grounds. She took his arm, and turned him around. He smiled weakly, and looked down at her, laughing nervously. "Um... thanks, Nabi-chan."   
  
"I'm buying a leash for you one of these days, Ryo-kun."  
  
"Not again..."   
  
"I mean it this time. A chain one, too, so you won't be able to accidentally 'break' it like you did that last one."  
  
He shrugged. "You'll never..."  
  
"I'm sure Mousse could make one strong enough."  
  
Ryouga snorted in dismissal. "He wishes."  
  
"Oh, don't be so huffy." Nabiki reached into her purse and took out a wad of bills, held in a silver clip. "I cleaned up today!"  
  
"You cleaned up? Ah... you mean we cleaned up." He reached for the yen, but Nabiki dangled it a little out of reach.   
  
"Ah ah ah... the magic word?"  
  
"Oh." Ryouga scratched his chin idly. "Let's see... is it... 'Hey!'"  
  
"What?" Nabiki blinked, and found the stack of money half gone. "Hey!"  
  
"That's what I said." Ryouga thumbed through the money. "Not bad."  
  
"Ryo-kun! How could you?" She looked up at him, eyes growing watery. He wavered for a heartbeat, before handing the yen over.   
  
"Geez."  
  
"You really are a gullible softie, Ryo-kun." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and he turned beet red.  
  
"Nabiki! Not in public!" He shrugged into his shoulders, the color slowly fading from his cheeks. He followed her briskly to the entrance to the school. "Nabi-chan! We're still on for tonight, right?"  
  
"Yeah." She checked her watch, and turned around. It was starting to get late. "Why?"  
  
"I dunno... just ...a bad feeling."  
  
***  
  
Saotome Ranma was less than amused.   
  
"What does this stuff always happen to me? Dumb old man. This is all his fault." The younger Saotome rubbed the rapidly healing bump on his upper lip. Why had the stupid spirit panda gotten obsessed with him, of all people? If Genma hadn't stolen his octopus balls then none of this evening's exercise in idiocy would have happened. Then again, when wasn't it Genma's fault?  
  
It was bad enough as it was, virtually an entire night wasted on a date with the... thing, just to get rid of it, without Akane getting mad and hitting him, and Ryouga laughing his piggy ass off. He'd hoped he could just enjoy the fair, maybe... maybe spend some time with Akane without everyone looking over his shoulder and either urging him on, or trying to 'smite' him, but no: of course, the universe conspired to ruin things.   
  
Pulling off his shirt, and tossing it into the nearby hamper, Ranma looked in the mirror, and at the bump below his nose: a goodnight kiss/head butt from the evil spirit-panda before it had gone back into the cursed scroll it came from. Near the end, when it looked like the panda was going to kiss him, actually kiss him on the lips, and he had frozen up, Akane had yelled and...  
  
"This night was... priceless. Simply priceless."  
  
"Shut up, porkchop!" Ranma kicked off the last of his clothes, and turned on the shower, letting it run through his thick hair.  
  
"Don't be mad, cross dresser. I'm just pointing out what a nice night it was watching you try and French kiss a bad drawing."  
  
"Shut your hole, Bacon breath!"  
  
"She-male!"  
  
"Pig fetish!"  
  
"Oh, that's a new one." Ryouga frowned as Ranma turned off the shower, and relaxed in the furo, the steam turning him male before his ankles even got below the surface. "Hey, did I say I wanted your Sideshow Freak self in the same bath as me?"  
  
"Hey, and I don't want to end up smelling like pork products!"  
  
"Why you... the stage entrance is in the back, bearded lady."  
  
"Bearded lady?"  
  
Ryouga frowned. "That didn't work, did it?"  
  
"Eh," Ranma said and yawned. "At least you didn't call me a 'villainous sorcerer.' I hate that."  
  
"More than being called a She-male?"  
  
Ranma growled.  
  
"I didn't think so."  
  
"Why do you call me that, anyway." Ranma's hand uncurled from the fist it had been in. "I'm a guy, damn it!"  
  
"And I'm not a pig. What's your point?"  
  
Ranma frowned. "Just... don't call me that."  
  
"What? She-male, transvestite, cross dresser, pervert, freak show...?"  
  
"All of them!"  
  
"Nah." Ryouga smirked, cruelly. "I like calling you those things. I'd consider stopping, if you did the same, but I don't think you could go a day without calling me something insulting."  
  
"You're such an asshole."  
  
"And you're most comfortable in ladies' underwear."  
  
"Look... Ryouga, I'm really not in the mood for this right now." Ranma held up his hands, in a gesture offering a truce. "Can't I just sit here and enjoy the water? In silence?"  
  
"Whatever." Ryouga raised his hands and rested them behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. The two sat there, in total quiet, for all of a minute.  
  
"So..." Ranma started, voice more casual.  
  
"So..." Ryouga mimicked. "Did you actually kiss that drawing? We left after you two stood there for five minutes without moving."  
  
"After half an hour it head butted me, so I ended up kissing it on the forehead."  
  
Ryouga smiled, and Ranma noticed it wasn't the normal cruel smile he used when the two talked, or did anything together. "Akane must've been relieved."  
  
"Why would that tomboy...?"  
  
"Don't pull that crap with me, Saotome. Save it for school. ...Save it for Shampoo." Ryouga didn't hide the anger in his voice at that last part. "You're digging your own grave, you know."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Sure you don't. So you didn't kiss the ...whatever it was?"  
  
"Nah. Not really." Ranma cracked a grin, and pointed at the lost boy's face. "Did you know that you've got red smudges on your face?"  
  
"Er," Ryouga replied softly, quickly dipped his head into the water, and started vigorously rubbing his cheeks and the side of his mouth.  
  
"I was only kidding." Ranma smiled sardonically. "Yeah. You and Nabiki must've loved that movie you went to."  
  
Ryouga laughed nervously, as he tended to do when thinking about those kinds of things in front of other people. "It... it was ...dark."  
  
"Must've been."  
  
Ryouga bit his lower lip.  
  
"Looks like she's a real dynamo." Ranma chuckled. "Then again, knowing you, all she'd have to do is touch your hand now and then. Seriously: did you see any of the movie?"  
  
"How dare you, Saotome! Making such statements..."  
  
"Oh, right. Ryouga the perfect gentleman." Ranma rolled his eyes. "I hate it when Akane calls you that."  
  
"I hate it when anyone calls you that," Ranma amended, a little too quickly.  
  
"You've got real interpersonal problems, you know that, Saotome? I mean, I've spent my life wandering around Japan aimlessly, but sometimes you're more lost than I'll ever be."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"I know Akane likes you. I know you like her. It wasn't exactly obvious when I fist showed up, and maybe you two didn't like each other back then, but now..." Ryouga tapped his finger on the side of the furo while Ranma rolled his eyes. "Now it's obvious to everyone."  
  
"Listen, you," Ranma began. "Akane and I don't..."  
  
"Want the engagement?"   
  
"Damn straight!"  
  
"That doesn't change the facts." Ryouga explained. "Besides, what does it matter if I know?"  
  
"Nothing... really." Ranma 'hmfed' and leaned back into the hot water.  
  
"So?"  
  
"So what?"  
  
"So, do you like her?" Ryouga asked, more forcefully than he had intended.  
  
"I... I suppose... sometimes." Ranma sighed. "Not all the time, though!"  
  
"Not all the time?" The lost boy sounded lost. "What does that mean?"  
  
"Well, you know..."  
  
"Obviously not, or I wouldn't be asking."  
  
"Akane can be... she can be strange sometimes. It's like we can only be nice to each other when no one else is around."  
  
"Your problem is that you care too much what other people think." Ryouga pointed out. "I mean, if you like her and she likes you, what does it matter that you were engaged by your parents?"  
  
"It does matter." Ranma stressed. "Pops has been telling me what to do my whole life!"  
  
"I'd be happy if I were in your shoes, Saotome." Ryouga grumbled loud enough for the other boy to hear. For a few seconds, they just sat there, in silence.   
  
"P...provided Nabiki was in Akane's shoes." He added. "Or something like that."  
  
Ranma inclined his head. "I still don't see why you care what happens between me and Akane."  
  
"Normally, I wouldn't. It is your business at this point." Ryouga paused. "But Shampoo is a friend. I know you're not interested in her..."  
  
"She's cute." Ranma interrupted. "But I don't wanna be no Amazon man living in China. Especially not if what you've told me about Mousse's childhood is true. Plus, she's just not my type."  
  
"Then you need to do something about that!" Ryouga said, straight out. "Put your foot down and tell Cologne that Akane is the only fiancée you have."  
  
"I... I don't think that'll help." Ranma sunk lower in the furo. "Besides, what if it pisses off Akane? Pops and Mr. Tendo will dance around celebrating and making wedding plans and... and I may like Akane... but I don't know if I want to marry her..."  
  
Ranma's sentence trailed off, and he watched his former enemy, wondering if what he'd just said would make him angry, too. Ryouga was looking at him, as if making some kind of judgment while mentally reviewing everything that had been said. After a few seconds, Ryouga's face became serious.   
  
"It ... is a big step," The lost boy admitted. "Almost a year ago, I'd probably have jumped at the chance to marry her, and I hardly even knew her."  
  
"Hey, man... why don't you talk to her anymore?"  
  
"What're you talking about?" Ryouga asked, instantly defensive.  
  
"I mean you don't talk to her much. Sure, you nod and sometimes say 'Yes, Akane-san,' 'Ok, Akane-san,' and stuff like that. And you don't go out of your way to ignore her... But, well, you know what I'm saying."  
  
Ryouga closed his eyes and snorted softly. "Yeah... I know."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"It's very awkward for me... Especially when she has that little pig with her. I don't like pigs, Ranma. I didn't like them before, and I don't like them now. Akane I just... we just don't have a lot in common. I know it sounds stupid, but... the only reason I liked her, back then, was because I was P-chan and because she was nice to me... him... like that."  
  
"Yeah, but she wants to be your friend..."  
  
"I'd like to be her friend, too!" Ryouga's eyes snapped open. "I just... I just don't know what to say."  
  
Ranma smirked. "Sounds like me and Nabiki. Nothing in common. Frankly, I'm surprised you and her..."  
  
Ryouga's eyes narrowed. "Watch your words, Saotome."  
  
"I'm just being honest." Ranma admitted. "I mean: she's not really my idea of a normal girlfriend or anything. She's definitely more ... ah... feminine... than Akane, but she still can't cook, at least as far as I know, and she's bossy, and overbearing, and... I dunno. I figured you'd prefer a nice normal girl or somethin."  
  
"Nabiki is a nice girl." Ryouga said, eyes half lidded.  
  
"What about that time she sold you to the Kendo Club for their practice Tourney?"  
  
Ryouga shrugged. "I didn't mind."  
  
"Or when she used you as muscle to get those three guys to pay up what they owed her..."  
  
"They had it coming."  
  
"Rented you out as a bodyguard..."  
  
"I got paid, too, you know."  
  
"Rebuilding the damaged part of the school..."  
  
"Community service."  
  
"Handing out fliers for the Tendo Dojo..."  
  
"I didn't mind."  
  
Ranma frowned. "Oh? What about that time she had you come into school as P-chan, do tricks for all the girls, and then sold all those P-chan plushy dolls?"  
  
Ryouga bristled a little. "Well, that... that wasn't so nice."  
  
"And then there were the P-chan 'Dance Dance Revolution' tapes she sold last week."  
  
Ryouga raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Or the pictures she sells..."  
  
"What?" Ryouga held up his hand. "Pictures? There's no way she'd sell..."  
  
"There are actually pictures?" The pigtailed boy just smiled. "Really? I was making that one up."  
  
"Rrraaannnmmaaa...." The lost boy snarled, fist clenched.  
  
"A joke!" Ranma made little warding gestures. "Just a joke, man! Be cool!"  
  
Ryouga finally crossed his arms and went back to sulking.   
  
"The point is," Ranma said, starting over. "That she isn't a normal nice girl."  
  
"I don't care," Ryouga said with a huff. "I'll admit... she isn't the most scrupulous of people, and she is still a little obsessed with money, but I don't think she's as bad as she used to be."  
  
"And I'm happy when I'm around her. That's all that matters," Ryouga said, with finality, as he got out of the furo. As Ryouga dried his hair with a large yellow towel (he called it 'mustard' colored), Ranma thought about what the other boy had just said. He was happy being around Nabiki. Was that really all that mattered? In a way, it was easy for Ryouga to say that, neither of them were engaged. Still in thought, Ranma hardly even noticed when Ryouga wrapped the towel around his waist and headed for the door.  
  
"Wait!"  
  
"Yeah?" Ryouga's voice didn't seem that patient.  
  
"Do you still hate me, Ryouga?"  
  
The lost boy seemed a bit surprised by the question. "I don't hate you... not anymore, Saotome. You just test me sometimes... you don't know when to stop pushing people until they're already off the cliff."  
  
"Yeah... I... I know." Ranma looked away, at the fogged up window.  
  
"And you did Curse me. Let's not forget that."  
  
"You're the one who followed me to China."  
  
"Oh please." Ryouga shook his head. "That could have been anyone standing there that day. It could have been some villager, minding his own business. You could've killed somebody, broken their neck, and you wouldn't even have known."  
  
"I... I didn't mean to!"  
  
"Doesn't change facts. Sure... I was late to our duel..."  
  
"Four days late."  
  
"But you knew about my directional problem. You sure said so enough when we fought back then in junior high... you knew, and you still left with your father."  
  
"You didn't have to follow us!"  
  
"You don't get it Saotome." Ryouga said, voice sad. "...I did. I did have to follow you... you were my enemy- you were my goal. This sounds stupid, but I really don't think I had anything better to do with my life."  
  
"Hey." Ranma rubbed his upper lip nervously with his thumb, not used to making any sort of apology. "Look, I'm sorry 'bout knocking you into the pool, ok?"  
  
"I know you are. If you weren't..." Ryouga didn't feel the need to go there in any more detail. Instead, he 'hmfed' and left without another word. Ranma sat in the furo, alone, and thought.  
  
***  
  
"Ok. Here's one." Mousse poked the fire with one of his swords, before twirling it in his palm and burying it into the soft ground. "What do you call a room with fifty lesbians, and fifty politicians?"  
  
"Oh brother... what?"  
  
"A hundred people who don't do dick! HA!"  
  
"Ugh!" Ukyou groaned. "Yes. That was bad. Much worse than mine. I concede defeat."  
  
"Victory!"  
  
"Don't let it go to your head or anything. By tomorrow, I'll have something much worse than that thought up." Ukyou looked into the pot that was warming over the flames. "Looks done."  
  
"Excellent." Mousse started spooning out the trail soup. It was warm, and while many orders of magnitude better than Akane's cooking, and far from the worst thing Mousse had made in their little trip, both silently knew that they looked forward to the days when it was Ukyou's turn to make the food.   
  
"How far are we from Jyusenkyou, do you think?" Ukyou broached, like she did every day.  
  
"Well, we're definitely in the Baiyankara Range. Nekonron should be around here somewhere... they kind of skirt the edges of the Jyusenkyou area, all the way to the other side of the mountains, but travel around a lot. I wouldn't mind stopping by there to see the place for myself, but they're not particularly friendly to Joketsuzoku now a days."  
  
"No one seems to be very friendly to Joketsuzoku around here."  
  
"It's the Elders. They insist on fighting the Musk whenever they show up, they provoke the Phoenix Tribe, and they bully the Shichi Fukudoujin." Mousse rolled his eyes and continued. "One of these days, they're going to bite off more than they can chew. I think they already did with Saotome. Trying to get that guy to commit to anything is like moving a mountain."  
  
"I still can't believe that he and Ryouga-kun got drunk back at that stupid race. Or that I had to drag you in the right direction... honestly, someone needs to glue those glasses onto your face, sugar."  
  
"Those trees looked just like the goal post! Identical! Down to the smallest detail!"  
  
"You're hopeless." She patted him on the shoulder, and started eating. He came close to flinching at the statement, but gave her a small smile instead. She hadn't meant it, of course, but the jibe hit close to home. He took a tentative sip of the soup, before consigning it to being a little too hot. As he stirred the contents of the bowl slowly, his eyes caught sight of a tall Chinese oak, and remembered.  
  
It had been years ago.  
  
Mu Tzu had strained his small body to its limit, reaching on tiptoe for the next branch. His fingertips just brushed it, only inches out of reach. High above, tauntingly, the highest branches of the tree danced in a sudden spring breeze, tantalizing him with brief glances of the sky beyond. On the bridge of his nose, his glasses almost slipped, and he had to draw back his hand to steady them on his face.  
  
He steadied himself and looked down - the ground seemed unusually far away. He knew he should be happy that he'd gotten this far; most boys his age certainly wouldn't have been able to double his feat, and only a few girls of the Joketsuzoku of the same generation. After all, two branches down, a climber had to swing carefully around the trunk, moving from one side of the tree almost to the other.  
  
But this limb, he just couldn't reach, and the trunk was too thick to possibly shimmy up to a better position. Mousse was foiled, and he knew it. He'd simply have to wait until he grew taller, if he ever did. The alternative was...  
  
To jump for it.  
  
The branch was thick, and he'd have to jump pretty high, but if he could snag it, he might be able to pull himself up. And if he missed, he'd defiantly fall. He was still staring up at the branch, trying to decide where to go next, when he heard the voices from below start up again.  
  
"Mu! Hey, Mu! Come down! Were going to play Amazons and Musk!"  
  
Why were they bothering him? Couldn't they see that he was busy?  
  
"Come on, Mu!"  
  
"Hold on!" Mousse called out and looked down reluctantly. Six boys from his generation, three of them his year-brothers, and three girls all stood below. Way below, Mousse amended that. He suddenly started to feel more than a little dizzy, and he quickly adjusted his glasses again to keep them from falling.  
  
"Give it up, Mu Tzu!" It was the group's unofficial leader, Tso Pu. "Even I can't reach that one!"  
  
Unlike Mousse, Soap was seven years old, a year older than himself and most of the other children, but Soap was about a solid head taller than the boy. And everyone liked Tso Pu, and not just because she was female and strong.  
  
"Yeah, come on, Mousse! Before you hurt yourself."  
  
That was Shan Pu, Tso's sister by one less year. Shan was his height, and age, and Mousse secretly admired her purple hair and dark brown eyes. He liked the way she laughed, when she wasn't laughing at him.  
  
  
  
"Oooh, Shan is worried about poor blind Mu Tzu!" Another girl called out, her voice mocking.  
  
"No I'm not!" Shampoo yelled, too quickly.  
  
He turned his face to the bark so they wouldn't see his angry and embarrassed blush. Frowning, he turned back to the branch, and jumped as hard as he could. That would show them.   
  
All of them.  
  
He managed to get his arms around the branch, as the crowd of children turned deathly quiet down below. Scrambling for a hold, Mousse realized his timing was off, and that his fingers had never quite met up around the thick branch. There was nothing to grab onto, and only pressure and his nails on the bark kept him in place. But it was pressure he couldn't keep up for long.  
  
He looked down, and that was worse. He was hanging above and off to the side of the limb he had been standing on. If he freefell, he'd have no chance of landing on it - he'd have to fall the whole way down, and probably break something. On the positive side of things, at least he's shut up the others. Only a moment seemed to pass, and then a voice spoke up.  
  
"Mu Tzu, you stupid male, hold on! I'm coming up to get you!"  
  
Tso Pu.   
  
She was trying to play hero. The taller girl was already climbing up the tree.  
  
"No," Mousse thought, desperately, "No way! I don't need to be saved by a girl! I may be male, but I'm not helpless!"  
  
With a snort, Mousse swung himself and dropped. The children below gasped like a crowd watching a circus performer as he hit the next branch, feet first, and teetered there for a long, terrible moment, before finding his balance. He may have been male, and too young to start formal martial arts training (even if he had been a girl), but he had watched countless fights, and practiced by himself whenever he could. He stood there, fighting the urge to hug the branch and breathing harder than he ever remembered. Below, he sensed a restless pause.  
  
"Wow."  
  
He peered down. That had been one of the girls. Shampoo? He wasn't sure.  
  
"You were lucky," Tso yelled up, after letting go of the tree and landing on her feet near the others, "You should have waited for me to help you. You shouldn't even be trying to climb by yourself. We're supposed to play together! Will you come down now?"  
  
Mousse bit back an urge to dare Tso Pu to duplicate his feat. It would be great if Tso tried and failed, but what if she managed it? Or did better? Right now, at least somebody was impressed by Mu Tzu... and a girl somebody, at that!  
  
"Okay," he called down. "But I don't want to be Musk this time!"  
  
He started the descent. He had played Amazon and Musk many times, and like all boys, he had to play as the Musk raider, or warrior, or slaver, or whatever name the girls wanted to call them. It wasn't just the monotony of the part, but its dullness and the fact that it offered no real challenges or incentives. Carefully, he jumped the last few feet and landed on the soft ground, facing the others.  
  
"You get to be Musk, 'Moo,'" Plun said, and smiled. Plun was an ugly girl, with the face of a bat, minus its good features.   
  
"I said I didn't want to be Musk," Mousse repeated, keeping his voice level.   
  
"We voted, Moo," she called him that stupid nickname again, and he started to fume. "We voted, and you have to be Musk."  
  
"Yeah. It was a fair vote," Shan Pu added in, meaning, of course, that the girls had decided it without asking him or any of the other boys. The tone in her voice was clear - so she didn't like him. His momentary elation faded, but his stubbornness remained.   
  
"I didn't get to vote!" He blurted out, without really thinking.  
  
"If you really want to then," Tso Pu addressed the other girls, "All in favor of Mu Tzu being Musk?"  
  
All the girl's hands went up. ...Of course.   
  
"All opposed?"  
  
Mousse raised his hand defiantly. The other boys simply looked away. They were clearly too afraid or just too whipped to speak up. Mousse silently cursed them.  
  
"I was Musk the last time! All of us were!" He swept his hand out, indicating the other boys. "We're always the Musk!"  
  
"But you're just sooo good at it, Moo. You'll probably grow up to be one, I'll bet."  
  
"You take that back, Plun. You take that back right now!" Anger boiled through Mousse's veins so fast, it felt like his scalp would pop off. Plun hesitated. Mousse realized his voice had come out calmly, not like he was mad at all, the way Elder Cologne's voice came out when she was really angry. It had a similar effect, too, freezing the other girl in her tracks. He made a note to remember that in future dealings with Pun - she was, basically, a coward and a bully, unless someone stronger came in and gave her some courage to latch onto.  
  
"That's enough, Plun. You shouldn't say things like that," Tso Pu finally spoke.  
  
"I'm... sorry," Plun mumbled reluctantly, "What I meant was that you're good at playing one of them. Because you're male, and you run fast and stuff."  
  
"I tell you what. I'll be a Musk, too." Tso didn't stop when the other girls seemed about to interrupt. "Just to show everyone that the roles aren't set in stone. Okay, Mu Tzu?"  
  
Mousse blinked at the older girl. What was... then it hit him. She hadn't saved him in the tree, so she would save him now. How typical of her.   
  
"Fine," he said, having no choice at all.  
  
"Hey, Mousse," Ukyou nudged him, and Mousse quickly returned to the present. "Your soup is getting cold."  
  
"Oh. Thanks, Ukyou." He looked from her to the tree, to the horizon. With his free hand, he slid his thick glasses up and onto his forehead. The stars were just beginning to come out, now that the sun was gone, but Mousse didn't really want to see them. 


	14. Learning Curve part 14

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part XIV (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
"Kasumi! Kasumi? ...Damn it. Where are you?" Ryouga stood on his tiptoes, and looked over the heads of the crowded market. He'd turned around for a second, after finding some chocolates Nabiki probably would've loved, and she'd just disappeared. Box of chocolates in-hand, he'd been about to wander around a bit trying to find her, when he'd thought the better of it, and decided to stay put, hoping that Kasumi would double back and find him.  
  
That had been ten minutes ago.  
  
Looking up from his watch, Ryouga groaned in annoyance. Why did this kind of thing always happen? He was tempted to blame it on Ranma, just for the hell of it, but even this predicament was a little 'out there' in respects to the pigtailed boy. Besides, he'd been trying to kick that habit of blaming Ranma for everything. While Saotome was directly or indirectly responsible for the greater bulk of the things that haunted his life with pain and torment, that still left what he estimated to be a good ten or fifteen percent that Ranma wasn't the least involved in.  
  
"Come on, Kasumi. Where are you?" Ryouga looked around again in vain, before leaning back against the side of the stand and closing his eyes.   
  
"Charlotte!!!"  
  
"Oh no." Ryouga's eyes snapped open. "Oh no!!"  
  
"Charlotte! It really is you! Come to Azusa, Charlotte!"   
  
"Woah, hold on there, Azusa!" Ryouga held out his hand, stopping the charging Shiratori Azusa short of glomping onto him. She blinked large brown eyes at him in what seemed to the lost boy to be confusion. She was wearing a fairly typical looking and overly frilly white skating dress and a white bow - a change from her normal pink, if he remembered correctly. She was also, of course, in skates of a sort: roller blades.  
  
"My name is Hibiki Ryouga, first of all..."  
  
"You'll always be my 'little Charlotte' to me!" With surprising strength, Azusa pushed his arm aside, and caught him with a full on squeeze - Ryouga gasped for air. He reprimanded himself; he had forgotten just how strong the martial arts skater was. Ryouga let out a deep sigh, and using a fair amount of the more-than-formidable strength at his disposal, broke out of the hug.   
  
"Listen here, Azusa... Don't do that to me in public, alright?" He slipped out from her grasp, and took a few steps back and away.  
  
"I guess Azusa will just have to take you home then!" She giggled vacantly and lunged again, but Ryouga twisted, and she ended up squeezing a wooden stand holding up a sign.  
  
The sign promptly broke in half.  
  
"You know what I meant!"  
  
"No I didn't." Azusa let go of the remains of the sign, her lower lip trembling. "Please don't yell at little Azusa..."  
  
"I'm sorry, geez, don't cry or anything." Ryouga groaned inwardly. "It's just... wait just a second, Azusa..."  
  
"Now..." Azusa slid forward gracefully, her roller blades remarkably stable in holding her upright, and from out of nowhere pulled out a small collar with a little pink heart on it. Ryouga recognized it instantly, and broke out into a nervous sweat. "You'll be coming with Azusa, Charlotte. One way or another."  
  
Ryouga's brow furrowed, and he slid a foot forward, bringing his arms to his sides. "Stay back... or I'll use my Secret Technique!"  
  
"Secret Technique?"  
  
"YAAH!" Ryouga faked a lunge, causing Azusa to stumble a bit in hesitation, and then the lost boy simply turned and ran. Azusa was on skates, and anyone familiar with her particular brand of martial arts wouldn't underestimate her speed or agility on them, but when a Hibiki wanted to move, heaven help anything in his way or those trying to catch him. Give a Hibiki a day, and he may not even be in the same time zone.  
  
It was only when that thought set in that Ryouga stopped and looked around.  
  
"Well this is just... Wonderful. Just wonderful."  
  
Lost.  
  
Lost as usual.  
  
"This is all Azusa's fault. What was she doing? What was she thinking?" He yelled at the heavens for answers, "Shouldn't all the crazy people be after Ranma? Huh? Huh?"   
  
In another state of mind, most people probably would have realized that talking to oneself wasn't the most normal, or productive, thing to do at the moment, but that state of mind was just as lost as the lost boy was. Walking in the usual arbitrary direction, Ryouga drooped his head in defeat.  
  
"That's it. Don't say anything." No sooner had the words left his mouth then an ominous thunder came from the south. Looking upwards, he confirmed it. A storm, which meant rain, and while a little rain probably wouldn't be enough to make him transform, not after using Jyusenkyou waterproof soap as religiously as he did over the last two weeks, which had been amazingly buta-free, but it would get him wet. And getting wet was both an unpleasant experience, and an uncomfortable one - too many memories he'd rather not have in the first place. And if it turned into a downpour, and he got careless, he could very well end up as a walking side order of bacon.  
  
Ryouga took out his umbrella, tested it, and nodded to himself in obvious relief. It was reinforced through steady Ki infusion, and more than sturdy. This particular one, Umbrella #6, he'd nicknamed 'Natasha' after a nice girl he'd met when he'd wandered through Russia, months ago. While naming his weapon was a little secret he wasn't about to tell anyone (they wouldn't understand the affection a Hibiki feels for his weapon of choice) Ryouga felt very conventional about it. He only named one of them if they lasted for more than two months of steady use, and he had a lot of hard work and effort invested in 'Natasha.'  
  
Looking around, his eyes searched out for some kind of landmark that could identify his present and unknown geographical location. There were the signs, of course, but the street names may as well have been in Hebrew, a language he always swore to get around to learning, just for the hell of it, for all the good they did him. Luckily, he had one of his backup packs with him, so he'd be prepared for the next few weeks of mindless wandering. Then something caught his eye, or to be more exact, someone caught his eye.  
  
"Excuse me, sir." He approached the vendor, and gave him a small smile.  
  
"Yeah, kid?" The man looked down from the paper he was reading. "You want to buy something?"  
  
"Um... sure." Ryouga picked out a copy of the Tokyo Herald, and put down the money for it - there was an interesting article on a recent surge in wild animal attacks. "I was also wondering where I was."  
  
"You lost?"  
  
"Yeah, something like that. Am I still in Tokyo?"  
  
"You're in Nerima ward, kid. ...Tokyo, obviously." The middle-aged man went back to his reading. Ryouga took the paper and headed off, a smirk on his lips. Nerima! He hadn't wandered off too far, then. All he had to do was take it slow and carefully, and sooner or later; he'd run across someone who could take him to the Tendo Dojo. He'd come to learn that public transport, especially subways in a city, were better than random meandering, but there didn't seem to be a station nearby on the poster that hung from the vendor's overhang.   
  
Stupid complicated maps.  
  
"Then again..." He looked up, at a nearby roof, and jumped. A distance of thirty feet wasn't a problem, and a tiny application of Ki to his leg muscles more than gave him the power for it. He held his arms wide for balance, and landed softly on the roof. Walking up to its highest point, at the crest that ran down the middle of the top of the house, he looked out, hoping to spot the Tendo yard or house.  
  
It wasn't in sight, but he did make out part of Furinkan High, which was a start. Jumping easily from roof to roof, Ryouga felt fairly confidant that he'd be able to make it back home in time for dinner, provided Kasumi didn't herself wander around looking for him. At the thought, Ryouga stopped in mid jump, and went over that again in his head: since when had the Tendo place been his 'home?' His home was the Hibiki house, nearby, but out of practical reach for the time being.  
  
He licked his lips, and pondered that. He wasn't really heading home; he was going back to mooching off the Tendos. Additionally, he had been in one place for a long time - he hadn't really felt the soft ground under his feet for a long time. True, it had only been a few months, but to Hibiki Ryouga, months without wandering off and getting well and truly lost in a forest or mountain range of some sort or another... it was both a miracle and a very unusual feeling. Did he really miss the wandering?  
  
He could just walk off, in some random direction, and come back later, and at that thought, that impulse, he almost did. The wanderlust was well known among all those with Hibiki blood. Even those only slightly related to the line, Ryouga knew of distant relatives he had scattered all over the planet; all an unexplainable urge to see the world and keep moving. He'd always thought of himself as a shark of sorts, moving from place to place, eating what he wanted, doing what he wanted, never really... grounded. Never chained down.  
  
"What to do?" He looked from the Furinkan clock tower to the horizon, and something deep inside wanted to head for the horizon itself. ...If only for a few weeks.   
  
"No," he finally decided. He would have the common decency; at least, to tell them he was going off on a quick mountain training trip. Nabiki would be annoyed, he suspected, and she really had every right to be. He was, from a certain point of view, running away from her, and from 'them.'   
  
He remembered, instantly, that first time she'd gotten him. He'd expected it, yes, but he'd also feared it. It was their second date, and they'd walked in the backyard afterwards. He'd been sulking a bit, and looking down at the koi in the pond, when, pretty much out of the blue, she had called his name, and smiled mysteriously. Before even he could react, she'd literally bounced up and into his arms, and when she darted her face forward, a few stray strands of hair had come between them. Without even thinking, he'd reached up, and brushed them aside, and she'd seemed to materialize into crystal clarity in front of him. She seized the initiative, and kissed him quickly, in a curious way he'd never suspected could come from her.  
  
He'd passed out seconds later, and fallen into the pond, but the feeling still lingered, even now. He had to see her again, tell her that he wasn't leaving, just... just getting some fresh air. And if she insisted that he stay, well, he would. She was the most important thing in his life, without a doubt, but he knew she'd understand.   
  
She always did.  
  
Ryouga's thought instantly changed, and acting on a level usually reserved for instinct, his umbrella moved, like a blur, and a hard 'splash' sounded on the other side. Dripping cold water, the umbrella slowly lowered. Ryouga's mouth moved from impartial, to scowling, as he stared at the cloaked man, who descended from above, empty bucket in hand. The man's cloak, unlike the parkas Ryouga himself occasionally wore, concealed him almost completely from view, but underneath the dark hood, the lost boy was sure this man was smiling.  
  
The two stood, in silence, for several seconds, when Ryouga felt a drop of cool rainwater land on his left cheek. Raising his umbrella, silently, he watched this man carefully. He seemed calm, and relaxed, even as he faced the lost boy down, and he seemed to largely ignore the rain even as it turned from sprinkle to downpour in typical Nerima fashion.  
  
"Do you know," Ryouga began, dangerously. "That you attack Hibiki Ryouga?"  
  
A single, hard laugh was the man's only response, as he clutched the collar of his cloak, and undid a single button. The laughter paused, as two predatory eyes looked up at him. There was an animalistic quality to them that stabbed Ryouga in the gut, on some primal level that couldn't be explained with words. With a flourish, the man's cloak left his shoulders, and immediately, as the cloth drifted to the roof tiles, the rain beat down on the stranger's arms, back, and face.   
  
There was a crack of thunder, and the fight was joined.  
  
***  
  
"It's raining pretty heavily." Tendo Akane had steadily come to dislike the rain. In years past, it had been almost comforting, the faint tap-tap of raindrops on the roof, but over the last two years, the rain generally meant trouble. It generally kept the Jyusenkyou cursed indoors, and in close proximity to each other - never a good thing for the structural integrity of the house, or for peaceful appreciation of the sound of the rain itself.  
  
Oddly, however, things had been quiet lately.  
  
Suspiciously quiet.  
  
Downstairs, Ranma was reading a magazine and snacking on a bag of potato chips. A small stack of schoolwork and books sat on a nearby table, untouched. P-chan sat on his haunches next to the books, and she noticed that his ears perked up when she entered the room. She'd wondered where he had run off to earlier, and now the answer was obvious.   
  
"Ranma, have you been feeding P-chan potato chips?" She walked over in a semi-annoyed fashion. "You know you're just encouraging him to beg."  
  
"It was only one," Ranma lied, and shrugged it off, going back to reading.  
  
"Well, you're spoiling him." Akane reached down and scratched the little black piglet behind the ears.  
  
"I'm spoiling him? I've seen you sneak him food when no one's looking. At least he's smart enough not to try and eat your leftovers."  
  
"Baka," she rapped him on the side of the head halfheartedly. "What are you reading, anyway?"  
  
"Jyusenkyou Products Catalogue. Shampoo let me borrow it."  
  
Akane frowned.  
  
"I'm thinking about ordering some of that waterproof soap Ryouga uses. They've got some of that instant Nanniichuan powder Shampoo used the other day, and a whole bunch of other weird stuff."  
  
"Didn't the Instant Nanniichuan only work once, and then it wore off?"  
  
"Well, yeah," Ranma said, and turned the page, "But most of the time, I only get splashed once a day, or once every few days."  
  
"You are not turning our furo into a Japanese Jyusenkyou, Ranma."  
  
Ranma seemed about to say something, but caught himself.  
  
"No, I ain't planning that. It's just a precaution, you know. I mean, it's not a cure, but it's better than nothing. The problem..." He sighed, and quickly skipped two more pages. "The problem is money. None of this stuff is cheap. And then there's the shipping and handling costs. I just can't afford any of this. I've been thinking about asking Nabiki for another loan."  
  
"Another one?" Akane leaned in closer, from where she sat on the edge of the couch. "She'll eat you alive, you know. She doesn't even give you the family 'discount.'"  
  
"I dunno. She's mellowed out a little." Ranma looked up at her. "Since she and Ryouga started getting along. The alternative is asking Ryouga for money, and I won't do that."  
  
"He'd probably be happy to give it to you," Akane answered, and Ranma nodded.  
  
"Yeah, but he'd never let me forget it. Besides, I don't want his pity."  
  
"Why can't you two just get along? Honestly!" Akane stood up, and looked around. "And where is Kasumi? It's not like her to be late."  
  
"The rain probably just slowed her down a bit." Ranma cocked his head: half worried, half dismissive. "She's fine."  
  
"Saotome-san hasn't come back either. Or Ryo-kun." Nabiki's voice came from behind, and the two teens turned as the older girl walked down the stairs. At her feet, Dollar jumped carefully from one step to the next, her size hindering her ability to efficiently transverse from up to down stairs. At around twelve weeks old, Dollar was still just barely a puppy, but possessed of a remarkable intelligence and understanding. Her large brown spots had darkened, especially over the colored half of her face, and she was growing quickly. At the bottom of the stairs, the dog waited for Nabiki, slightly impatient, but restrained.  
  
P-chan was not so held back. With a loud 'bwee' he jumped up and at the dog. The younger Hibiki dog dodged, swiftly, and P-chan had to roll to recover himself. Dollar's tail started to wag, but she held back, waiting.  
  
"Go on." Nabiki waved her hand, and the dog and the pig clashed, jumping at each other. Akane rolled her eyes in annoyance, but Ranma watched the two carefully. No doubt neither Akane nor Nabiki saw it, but both animals had some semblance of a technique. The small pig used some unusual and crude combination of Judo and Sumo, while the dog used a swifter, more economical movement style, batting with his paws. It was unlike anything he's seen before - though considering that he was trying to analyze the 'fighting' techniques of a canine probably said enough right there.  
  
And, if he recalled correctly, Ryouga had put off bringing Dollar to the Tendo Dojo, or even selling any of Shirokuro's puppies, until they were all almost ten weeks old. Thinking back, Ranma also remembered that, back when they were younger, Ryouga had mentioned that his house was 'well guarded.' It was obvious to those that knew her that Shirokuro was not a normal dog. Ryouga practiced an unusual and largely informal style of martial arts himself, could the family dogs have been taught similarly? It was a possibility.  
  
"You don't think he transformed, do you?" Akane asked her sister.  
  
"No. Not unless he got really careless." Nabiki went to the open living room door, and looked out over the yard.  
  
"Excuse me? This is Ryouga Hibiki we're talking about." Ranma smirked at his joke, though no one laughed. 'Hmfing' he went back to his magazine. Mentally, he kicked himself for blurting that out. If anything, he had to get on Nabiki's good side, or else he could end up owing an arm and a leg.  
  
Nabiki gave him a quick, disapproving stare, before looking back outside, through the rain. "That idiot better not have gotten lost out there."  
  
The door opened and a familiar voice called out.   
  
"Hello everyone!"  
  
"Kasumi!" Akane headed for the kitchen, and found a very wet version of her older sister, minus the groceries she had supposedly gone out for, and instead holding a familiar umbrella, with some difficulty, over one shoulder and a beaten and unconscious piglet in the crook of her other arm.  
  
"Oneechan!" Nabiki wasn't far behind her sister, but openly gasped when she saw what she was carrying. "Ryo-kun?"  
  
"Um... Kasumi...?" Akane pointed to the umbrella. "Isn't that a little heavy?"  
  
"Oh my, yes it is. *Very* heavy for an umbrella."  
  
Carefully, Kasumi put the umbrella down against a corner in the room. Hopefully, it wouldn't fall and break anything. Nabiki and Akane were both speechless, but Kasumi's next words broke them out of the surprised funk. "Nabiki-chan, could you please warm up some water?"  
  
"Um... yeah. Sure." Nabiki reached out for the black piglet in Kasumi's arms. "Is he...?"  
  
"He's been in a bit of a fight, I'm afraid." Kasumi watched as her younger sister's fingers trailed down one of the Buta-Ryouga's bruises. In the living room, Ranma quietly got up from the couch, and headed over. Ryouga had been in a fight? That alone was unusual - Ryouga didn't have any real enemies, and while occasionally he and Kuno would fight half-heartedly, anyone in the area who did fight knew to avoid the lost boy and try someone else if they had an itch to hit something. Naturally, people still came by wanting to tan Ranma's hide, but Ryouga hadn't been in a serious fight since their last spar in the dojo.  
  
And he was hurt?  
  
That was stunning. It took a hell of a lot to actually bruise the lost boy, Ranma could attest to that first hand, and even as the pig-formerly-known-as-P-chan, he wasn't to be underestimated. His speed could be phenomenal in his porcine form, and the piglet itself, despite appearances, was mostly tight muscle, steel-hard bones, tough as all hell cartilage, and unnaturally long and sharp teeth. Girls may find the little piglet to be cute, but it could be a real monster when Ryouga was sufficiently pissed off. Ranma had once called Ryouga's pig form a 'walking piranha' and it was an appropriate description.  
  
"Let me see him!" Akane looked more closely at Ryouga, even as he lay cradled in Kasumi's arm. The real P-chan, and Ryouga's dog, had already come over. P-chan seemed confused, and jumped up onto a nearby table, while Dollar seemed a bit more withdrawn  
  
"What's that he's wrapped in? Pantyhose?" Akane felt the odd fabric. "It is Pantyhose!"  
  
"Quiet! You'll wake up the old freak yelling like that!" Ranma rushed over and clasped his hand over Akane's mouth. For a second, there was stunned silence, and everyone half expected the cackle of 'Pantyhose! How Sweet!' to ring through the house, but there was nothing. Ranma's hand fell, and he sighed in relief a heartbeat before Akane pounded him soundly.  
  
"Baka." The youngest Tendo removed her elbow from the back of his head.  
  
"Ranma," Kasumi addressed his beaten form. "Could you please go get something to ...something for Ryouga-kun to wear?"  
  
"Yeah. Sure." Ranma got up, rubbed his sore neck, and headed off quickly.  
  
"Here: it's pretty warm." Nabiki held out the hastily heated kettle of water, after only a few additional seconds to test it with her finger. Luckily, the family kept a kettle of fairly warm water available at all times for Jyusenkyou related emergencies. Kasumi nodded, and put Buta-Ryouga down on the floor, on a soft washing towel.  
  
"Alright, everyone." Nabiki pointed to Akane and Kasumi. "Turn around."  
  
"Oh? What about you, Nabi-chan?" Ranma smiled broadly, yellow towel in hand, back from upstairs.  
  
She at last had the decency to blush, before handing the kettle over to the pigtailed boy. The three Tendo girls turned around, red by varying degrees, and Ranma knelt next to his... enemy? Rival? Maybe friend... no: not that just yet, he didn't think. Regardless, Ranma had another reason for not wanting Nabiki to be the one snapping him out of his cursed and unconscious state at the moment.  
  
Splash.  
  
"ARGHHHHH!!!" Ryouga's human eyes opened, frantic, and his right hand shot out like a snake, catching Ranma by the throat. Ranma gritted his teeth, and as Ryouga's eyes focused on him, and where he was, all strength in his iron grip faded. Gasping in surprise and shock, Ryouga grimaced in obvious pain.  
  
"You ok, man?"  
  
"Yah," Ryouga finally spoke, "Yeah. Ranma, we need to talk... Kasumi... Kasumi, you found me, didn't you? How?"  
  
She pointed at the television. "It wasn't really that difficult."  
  
"What do you mean?" Nabiki asked.  
  
Ryouga got up, and wrapped a towel around his waist, nodding to Ranma in silent thanks. Akane quickly ran into the living room, and picked up the remote control. In a second, the Television was on. Nabiki, meanwhile, ran up to him and checked one of the larger cuts he had along his left arm. "Ryo-kun! What the hell happened?"  
  
"Reports of extensive damage over several city blocks... reports indicate that some type of creature, what some could only describe as a monster... fled the area and disappeared after fighting with an unknown martial artist, who also seemed to disappear soon after. I'm in front of a local coffee shop that took heavy damage to its roof when, allegedly, the creature landed on it. Whether or not this incident is related to numerous reports of a monstrous pig attacking seemingly at random are..."  
  
"Ah, well, there you go." Ryouga scowled, and rubbed the bruise on his left arm. It had scabbed over and was slightly scratchy. His other arm found Nabiki's waist, and he pulled her close, even though she ended up getting wet. A silent moment passed between them, and Ranma was about to leave, when Ryouga turned a bit and faced him.  
  
"Ranma. Like I said. We need to talk," Ryouga's voice was calm, but beneath that, strained. "This wasn't the work of just some monster... I think we need to see Cologne."  
  
***  
  
Shampoo hated the rain.  
  
More to the point, she hated making deliveries in the rain. Normally, it was a job that Mousse got shouldered with, but ever since he and Kuonji had gone to China for Jyusenkyou, and a cure, she had been forced to take his place. In fact, she had been forced into picking up after all Mousse' responsibilities in the store. At first, she hadn't really thought it would be much trouble, remembering that she had handled most of the Nekohanten's menial work by herself when Cologne first came. But at the time, the store had been new, and not nearly half as popular as it was now. Mousse not being around was turning out to be much more of a hassle than she liked.  
  
"Stupid Mousse. Stupid, stupid Mousse," she repeated, running with great care while keeping herself sheltered from the elements with a sturdy umbrella. Normally, deliveries would be a quick affair - her bike could match the midrange speeds of most cars. It always seemed to surprise people when they realized she wasn't riding a motorcycle. But with the rain out, there was no way she could bicycle around without getting soaked.  
  
As she walked, her thoughts turned to Mousse and Ukyou, and her other friends. The last time they'd all been together had been that crazy Hot Springs Race. Mousse had walked into the store one day from one of his deliveries, and in an abnormally calm voice, told her about the race, and the prize: a trip to any hot springs in the world. He then showed her the ticket, and asked if she'd like to go with her.   
  
"You and me, Shampoo. It's as good as a cure for our curses! Agpft!"  
  
Without really thinking about it, she'd overturned a bucket of water (dirty water at that) on him, taken the ticket, and ran off to find Ranma. It bothered her, now, how she'd treated him. He knew that she would have liked the trip to Jyusenkyou the most; out of all the girls he knew and could have gone with. He'd then gone on to partner with the violent Tendo girl, and Ryouga and Ukyou had somehow ended up at the same place.  
  
Oddly, Mousse had been very quiet around her. Only when the race began, and he and Ranma started fighting for first place, did he start to talk at all. Only then, in the fights with Ranma and Ryouga did his normal, boisterous self come through. Then they'd all gotten splashed, and it was then that Shampoo began to remember exactly why she was here, or at least why Mousse was here. He didn't care about whom she wanted to be with anymore, he just wanted to be cured - he wanted her to be cured, because they were friends. Or at least he seemed to think so, despite how she treated him.   
  
When they'd finally all found each other, Akane had ended up with Ranma, and Shampoo with Ryouga. Ukyou and Mousse had apparently found each other, and headed off on their own. Inwardly, she wondered if Mousse had even looked for her. At the time, teaming up with Ryouga had been fun. She still had a soft spot for the clueless boy, even if they did end up getting lost somewhere in the attic of a building. Finally, they'd heard familiar voices, and smashed through the roof down into the 'Smiling Tiger' bath, which Akane and Ranma had stumbled into.   
  
Ranma had made a snide comment, Ryouga attacked, and both boys ended up totally plastered by the hot sake before one could drown the other. It took a half hour to drag them out of the bath, singing 'sea shanties' and laughing about crude jokes all the way. Needless to say that, by then, Mousse and Ukyou had won the race, and the two had been off for China two days later.  
  
"Stupid Mousse. Stupid rain. Stupid Japan!" She grumbled, angrily, and checked to make sure she had come to the right address. It took only about twenty seconds before some kid answered the door. He looked to be around fourteen, with a set of freckles.  
  
"I bring delivery from Nekohanten." Shampoo handed the boy the bill. "You order?"  
  
"Yeah." He snickered, but Shampoo kept a smile on her face, ignoring the sound. "Yeah. 'I order.' Hold on, lady."  
  
He came back in a minute with the money, and Shampoo handed over the order of food. The horny kid gave her a long look over that made Shampoo want to knock his jaw into low-earth orbit, before giving her a quick appreciative smile and closing the door. Shampoo's smile disappeared, and she headed back to the store, when halfway down the street, something black and white caught her eye.   
  
"Mr. Saotome?" For the life of her, she couldn't imagine a real wild panda lose in Tokyo, it had to be her panda-cursed father-in-law. As she got closer, it certainly looked like him. In Shampoo's experience, few pandas stood on their hind legs waving a sign that says, 'I'm just a helpless little panda! Don't hurt me!' He looked to be limping, and while she normally had no real feelings towards Saotome Genma, simple decency demanded that she do something, if only because he was Ranma's father.  
  
But... why was there pantyhose tied around his neck?  
  
***  
  
"The Jyusenkyou Visitor Registry has been stolen?"  
  
"Yes." Cologne hung up the phone and hopped over to the table, balancing effortlessly on her staff. "The Guide himself has confirmed it. He was attacked in his home over two weeks ago."  
  
"The Pantyhose Perpetrator and the Registry Robber are almost certainly one and the same." Ranma rested his chin on his knuckles, the two wooden hashi chopsticks in his hand twitching slightly. Ranma's eyes fell on his father, still in panda-form, currently stuffing his face with dumplings, then to Nabiki, who was engaged with picking at her bowl of ramen somewhat suspiciously. Behind him and off to the side, Ryouga stood, leaning against a wall. He had bandages around his left arm, but otherwise took to his injuries naturally. He had been quiet since they came here, and seemed to be brooding.  
  
Or meditating.  
  
Truthfully, Ranma still couldn't quite understand what ran through the lost boy's mind half the time. Only Nabiki seemed to have a clue as to what he was thinking or feeling. Ryouga guarded his true self too carefully for anyone to get too close to seeing the real him. It was frustrating, because Ranma really didn't want the lost boy as an enemy anymore. It'd be nice to have one real best friend again that he could talk to freely, and just be himself around.   
  
"So basically." Akane looked up from her food. "We don't know anything. Except that Ryouga and Saotome-san were attacked by a man wearing a cloak, and that this man has a Jyusenkyou curse."  
  
The panda grumbled something and went back to eating. Ryouga was silent, save to grunt in acknowledgement. Cologne shook her head. "No. There is one other thing we know about him."  
  
"That's for sure." Happosai nodded gravely from his position on the table, his ramen finished. "He had great taste in lingerie!"  
  
A second later, Happosai was twitching on the floor. Cologne cleared her throat. "As I was saying, we know one other thing... He was looking for a man who had visited Jyusenkyou. The Guide remembered that much, before he was knocked out."  
  
"Hmf." Ranma smirked, leaning back in his chair. "That means we have the perfect bait. With Mousse gone, I'm the only guy in town who's been to Jyusenkyou. Which means I let him come to me."  
  
Outside, the rain dwindled, if only momentarily. High above, clouds brewed, building up for an encore performance over Tokyo. The roof was quiet, as usual, and Ranma felt a sort of ease seep into him as he sat and watched the clouds roll and wrestle with each other in the night sky. It was a sort of neutral ground, now, by mutual agreement. Ryouga usually went up here to think and brood, and Ranma enjoyed the sense of isolation, serenity and calm that came from getting away from things ten feet below them.  
  
They rarely talked, however. But they listened - they listened to the sound of fish jumping out of the pond to try and catch an unsuspecting fly, to far off sirens, or to the occasional cricket and bird, going about its life. They listened to the same things, and there was a sort of understanding that this they could share, without having to fight or spar over. And sometimes, Ranma would talk, and Ryouga would listen. He didn't always reply, preferring silence and guarded words, but he would listen and hear Ranma out, even if he didn't call the other boy a 'friend.'  
  
It was enough.  
  
But today, Ryouga was the first to speak, "Hey. Ranma. You remember that movie we watched on TV the other day? 'Rashomon?'"  
  
"Yeah." Ranma only remembered it partly. The premise was simple, though Ranma found it a bit dull: a rape and a murder, seen from four different points of view - a bandit, a woman, her husband, and a woodcutter. They all agreed on a few facts, but in the end, the stories were all very different, each altered to put the narrator in the best light. As it turned out, even the murder victim, the husband, wasn't a reliable witness when his spirit was raised up from the dead to testify. Only the woodcutter, who seemed to be merely an observer, had anything approaching an objective view. And yet the film cast doubt on even his version of events, leaving Ranma with the frustrated revelation that he could never know for certain the truth of what had happened.  
  
"You know... I've been thinking. It was the victim himself... his version of events was the most doubtful out of all four," Ryouga said, as much to himself as to the pigtailed boy. Obviously, in reality, there was only one true set of events that took place. But no observer could be objective, the one most affected by it least of all.   
  
"Yeah. I guess so." Ranma wasn't quite sure where the lost boy was going with this. "What's up man? You look awfully serious, considering that it was just a movie."  
  
"I was just... thinking about you and me. I was thinking about the bread feud. About lots of things, really." Ryouga looked up at the sky. "You'd better watch yourself, Ranma."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I will give you one warning. This Pantyhose Perpetrator is... a Demon of Jyusenkyou."  
  
"What?" Ranma's back straightened up. "A Demon?"  
  
***  
  
"Ranma, are you sure you're going to be all right? Ryouga isn't exactly a pushover, you know. If he got hurt..."  
  
"He also turns into a little pig when he gets wet," Ranma cut her off softly. The sky was still overcast, and threatening to rain at any second. Akane brought an umbrella of her own, just in case, but Ranma wasn't as worried. Or his thoughts were just on other matters.  
  
"Still... I remember that fight you and Ryouga had." Akane sighed, how could anyone who had been there forget that fight? "This Pantyhose person must be pretty powerful, aren't you...?"  
  
Ranma wasn't looking at her - his eyes were on a rapidly descending form, clad in a flowing cloak, obscuring his form. Ranma's body tensed, but didn't jump until the figure had already committed his bucket of water to splashing the pigtailed martial artist. A part of the fence Ranma had been walking on got soaked, but both fighters landed on the ground, at the same time, dry and untouched.   
  
"So, you've finally found me, eh?" Ranma threw off his backpack. "I've been waiting for you... and unlike the others, I won't be so easily beaten!"  
  
Uncharacteristically, Ranma took the initiative and charged. Without so much as a word, or a hint of hesitation, the cloaked stranger met him, the light pink pantyhose tied like a scarf around his face fluttering in the wind. Ranma stopped short, leaned back, and opened up with a barrage of snap kicks, just below his normal Amaguriken speeds, but fast enough to blur visibly. He was pulling his punches slightly to feel out his opponent. The cloaked stranger pulled back, and brought his arms up, blocking the blows from different angles by pivoting slightly at his knees and waist.  
  
With a flourish, and a single hard laugh, the man spun out, his cloak billowing and hiding his movements. A sharp heel kick exploded from the confusion, and Ranma was hard pressed to dodge it. He'd anticipated an attack, but as used to distractions as he was from fighting Mousse, he had underestimated this opponent's speed. Sensing an opening, Ranma ducked, and sweep kicked low, catching his opponent's ankle just as it flexed, sending the cloaked fighter into the air in the form of a tiny jump. In midair, the pantyhose scarf undid, and the cloak fell from the fighter as he twisted to land perfectly to Ranma's right.  
  
"You shall regret this." A tall young man was revealed as the cloak drifted to land nearby. He wore loose baggy pants, an odd dragonscale vest coupled with matching forearm bracers, and a pantyhose sash tied about his waist. He had a wild crop of dark brown hair, thick eyelashes, and a pair of earrings. Akane blinked - he was handsome in a bishounen sort of way, but he certainly didn't look like the type that could do damage to a walking tank like Hibiki Ryouga. Ranma took a step towards the other boy. Akane suspected he was thinking the same thing.  
  
"Ok, pal. Just who the hell are you?" Ranma growled, advancing. Overhead, the clouds thundered. The other fighter only chuckled softly to himself, as the raindrops started to fall.  
  
"Ranma! Be careful! It's starting to rain!"  
  
"Yeah, I know!" Ranma broke into another charge. "I'll just worry about that after I've made this guy talk!"  
  
As Ranma left the ground, committed to a jump kick, Akane saw it - a flash in the other boy's eyes. Instantly, in between the spatters of cold droplets on flesh, hair tore out from the formerly cloaked fighter's arms and face. At the same time, his muscles bulged and expanded, suddenly at first, and then with increasing intensity. His Chinese slippers dug into the hard ground, sending bits of concrete into the air at his feet, even as they began to twist and distort, his ankles rising and reforming higher up and into what might have previously been his calves. Ten feet he grew, then twenty, until the mass of dark wet fur was almost thirty feet tall, slightly hunched over. For something of its sudden size, the creature moved insanely quickly, and batted the surprised Ranma-chan out of the air easily.   
  
"Ranma!" Akane could only gasp, as Ranma skidded and slid across the slick ground and almost to her feet, wincing in pain.  
  
"What... what is he?" Ranma's voice was soft, and barely heard over the now thundering pounding of the rain. Lightning flashed, for an instant, revealing the massive creature. It had the head of a bull, crowned by twin arching horns, but it stood on what looked almost like the body of a man, shaggy and heavy with medium length hair. Wings sprouted from the shoulder blades, and flexed eagerly. The creature's legs were like that of a beast, and ended in large hooves that would easily dwarf those of a large horse. Behind the monster, a slick looking tail waved back and forth hungrily, and for a second, Akane could swear that the tail had... eyes? It took a single step forward that sounded almost like a thunderclap, and both girls felt the vibration through the ground into their bodies.   
  
"A demon." Ranma-chan gasped, and scrambled back a bit as she got to her feet, bumping into Akane. "The Demon of Jyusenkyou! Akane... keep back!"  
  
The creature lunged, and with a titanic fist that barely missed the jumping Ranma-chan, pulverized the ground where she had been standing a blink of an eye before. The demon's other hand, however, was quick to make good where its comrade had missed, and a huge palm again swatted Ranma-chan like one would a large insect, sending her crashing, head first, into a concrete wall.   
  
With another thunderous step, the giant creature pivoted, and brought back a fist to finish the job. Akane frantically readied to run to Ranma's side, and nearly missed seeing large and fast jump from behind, past her, and into the amalgam monster. It roared from the blow, and in front of the creature, a man in dirty yellow and black landed with a splash.  
  
"Akane! Nabi-chan! Get Ranma out of here!" He splayed his arms wide and faced the beast, one hand fiercely clutching his closed umbrella. "Ready for round two, freak? If I can't beat the hell out of Ranma, you sure as hell can't either!"   
  
It leaned forward, and snarled with a tooth filled maw almost three feet long. Ryouga jumped, and the monster spun, trying to catch him as it had the other boy. Ryouga was slower, but this wasn't the first time he'd danced with this creature, and he ducked his head, avoiding the strike, and kicking out towards for the beast's jugular.  
  
"Akane! Come on!"  
  
"Nabiki?" Akane was more than a little surprised to see her sister, soaked to the bone, and pulling at her left arm.  
  
"Who do you think led him here?" She answered, referring to Ryouga.   
  
"But he'll be killed!" Akane yelled, over the din of the fighting and the rain. Ryouga had obviously given himself another treatment of the waterproof soap, but it wouldn't hold up forever in heavy rain like this, especially with him jumping, avoiding, and fighting that ...creature at the same time.  
  
"Don't worry about Ryo-kun," Nabiki yelled back, as they reached where Ranma-chan still laid, amid the debris of the destroyed wall, watching the fight, shock written on her features. Ryouga had stepped in to help her? Why?  
  
"We brought reinforcements!" Nabiki pointed to a far roof, where a black and white blur, and a small one, were converging on their location.  
  
"Fall, damn you!" Ryouga back flipped, his feet catching the creature's jaw as he evaded another titanic fist. He turned just in time to see the other one, filling his vision like a wall, slam into him at full force. The lost boy dully felt the ground beneath him crumple and deform as he fell, but it lasted only a second before he recovered, rolled back, and got onto his feet. He was about to jump at the creature again, umbrella first for a crushing blow to one of the joints, this time, when he noticed the tiny bubbles forming on his arms.  
  
"No," he cried, shaking his head, not believing it totally. "Not already!"  
  
A vicious haymaker ran into the distracted martial artist before the last word had even left his lips. For a thought's length, Ryouga imagined his body being torn in two, his torso flying through the air for over a mile, by the sheer power behind the blow, even cushioned as he was by his Ki and his training. As it turned out, the blow did twist him around, and sent him off his feet. The lost boy could distantly feel his heels scratching against the ground as he flew horizontally through the air and directly into a parked car.   
  
"Ryouga!" Ranma jumped to his feet. In the distance, through the heavy rain, he could just make out the car Ryouga had plowed into flying back several feet, into a street lamp. The girls spun, looking for what he saw, but he doubted they had anything like his vision, honed and enhanced as it was by his Ki. The monster turned its massive bulk, and Ranma caught its eyes - turning back to them.  
  
"Shit. Both of you get out of here!" Ranma pushed the girls behind him and got into a quick stance. The creature seemed distracted for only a second, to swat away something else that had hit the side of its face, before drawing back a fist and heading straight for the pigtailed boy. Behind him, Nabiki and Akane screamed, but when the blow came, there was only silence. Happosai stood between the monster and its targets, a single index finger stopping the patchwork monster's fist short.  
  
"That's enough!" Happosai sneered, and laughed evilly. "I'm taking over this match!"  
  
"The pervert?" Ranma blinked in surprise. Was Happosai really here to help?  
  
"Happosai?" Akane took a hesitant step backwards.  
  
"About time." Nabiki wiped a bead of nervous sweat from her brow, mixed with the rainwater that seemed to have brought this monster out in the first place.  
  
"If you value your life... you'll hand over all of your pantyhose!" Happosai flexed his left hand, in preparation. The monster's eyes simply narrowed, his head lowered, and two horns flashed out to cut the old pervert down. Happosai didn't even flinch.   
  
His hands found purchase, and he smiled. "HAPPO DAI KARIN!!"  
  
The shockwave from the blast hit first. Ranma weathered it, even in her weakened form, but Akane and Nabiki were easily knocked off their feet. Before Ranma could even check on them, the cloud of dust and debris from the bomb expanded, and everything became obscured. Her ears rang as if the tympana had been replaced by brass gongs, but that didn't disorient the combat hardened Ranma-chan for more than a few seconds. Her senses picked up something large moving nearby, and a brush of fur seemed just beyond reach.  
  
"You fool!" She heard Happosai's voice from somewhere above. "You're finished!"  
  
"Akane! Nabiki!" Ranma yelled, frantically. They had been behind him a second ago!  
  
"Ranma! Ryouga! Anyone!!" Someone screamed, and Ranma recognized Akane's voice as being above her.  
  
"Akane!" He yelled up, as the dark power clouds began to disperse, he could see Happosai, stopping short of delivering a punishing blow to the monster from above. The creature held Akane up in one hand and in the other held Nabiki, who seemed to be unconscious. Flexing its massive shoulders, the creature's wings began to flap, and amazingly, defying all logic, it took to the air.  
  
"Damn you! Come back!" Ranma-chan jumped, with all her strength, and managed to get hold of the tail, but it was a slippery as a fish, and her grip only held for a second. Falling on her face, Ranma-chan could only look up as the monster flew off, gaining speed and height.  
  
"Akane... damn him..." Ranma screwed her eyes shut, powerless to do anything, "Damn him..."  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
  
  
The promised chart (formerly in chapter 6) has been moved to here in version 1.4. Again: this version is more exact, I feel, than the old one. But still, take it with a grain of salt. These sorts of things are, at best, just a guideline.   
  
Spd = speed. This represents overall both the speed of a character's strikes, and also their ability to maneuver and dodge. The Amaguriken technique dramatically increases a character's speed when learned, not just because it is a speed based technique, but because its use shifts a fighting style to focus more on maneuver in general.   
  
Str = strength. Raw physical hitting power, based almost entirely on Ki enhancement of muscle groups. In that respect, it is related to speed (which is also based on Ki use, and not so much muscle mass/development), but is quite different in that the muscles and Ki are used differently. Strong people hit harder, though not necessarily better (Ryouga is a perfect example of this).  
  
End = Endurance. This is both the ability to endure pain/punishment and the ability to keep fighting off exhaustion. In terms of Ki, this number represents the ability to properly and expertly channel Ki into the body at a pace that can be maintained for longer periods of time. This is the 'Well of Power' Ranma experiences in chapter 8.  
  
Tec = Technique. This is pure fighting form and technique and (more importantly) the ability to put it into practical use. It involves a mastery of basic and conventional martial arts, and growing knowledge of the ability to use those martial arts in conjunction with growing mastery of Ki. Ukyou, for example, improves dramatically in Technique as she adapts and improves her formerly 'cooking based' style through contact with other martial artists like Mousse and Ryouga.   
  
Ada = Adaptability. A somewhat amorphous attribute, this represents a character's ability to pick up new techniques (usually special techniques) and use them in a variety of situations. Those with a high number in this (like Ranma, Ryouga and to a lesser extent, Mousse) are always thinking of ways to experiment and modify their techniques, often improving on them dramatically. Ranma is the undisputed master of this attribute, able to consistently come up with adaptations 'on the fly.'  
  
Stec= Special Techniques. This attribute is basically the number, power and effectiveness of a character's 'special' techniques. These are martial arts moves that always involve use of Ki, in some manner or another. These are the Final Attacks, Secret Techniques, etc... This trait is (usually) closely tied to Adaptability.   
  
Saotome Ranma  
  
(Arrival in Nerima / BT Fight / Final Duel)  
  
Spd:10 / 16 / 20  
  
Str:10 / 10/ 15  
  
End:10 / 14/ 20  
  
Tec:10 / 12/ 16  
  
Ada:20 / 20/ 20  
  
Stec:10 / 14/ 24  
  
Hibiki Ryouga  
  
(Arrival in Nerima / BT fight / Final Duel)  
  
Spd:08 / 15 / 18  
  
Str:15 / 16/ 26  
  
End:15 / 20/ 30  
  
Tec:08 / 10/ 14  
  
Ada:16 / 16/ 16  
  
Stec:14 / 16/ 24  
  
Kuonji Ukyou  
  
(Arrival in Nerima / Early Book One / Late Book One)  
  
Spd:06 / 08 / 10  
  
Str:06 / 08/ 08  
  
End:05 / 06/ 07  
  
Tec:05 / 07/ 09  
  
Ada:08 / 10/ 10  
  
Stec:04 / 04/ 05  
  
Shan Pu  
  
(Arrival in Nerima / Early Book One / Late Book One)  
  
Spd:05 / 05 / 07  
  
Str:08 / 08/ 08  
  
End:05 / 06/ 07  
  
Tec:08 / 08/ 09  
  
Ada:04 / 04/ 04  
  
Stec:05 / 05/ 05  
  
Mu Tzu  
  
(Arrival in Nerima / Early Book One / Late Book One)  
  
Spd:08 / 09 / 11  
  
Str:06 / 08/ 08  
  
End:06 / 07/ 09  
  
Tec:09 / 09/ 11  
  
Ada:10 / 12/ 12  
  
Stec:06 / 06/ 06  
  
Pantyhose Taro  
  
(Manga version / Fanfic Human / Fanfic Transformed*)  
  
Spd:14 / 16 / 16  
  
Str:10 / 12/ 38  
  
End:10 / 10/ 32  
  
Tec:09 / 10/ 10  
  
Ada:08 / 08/ 08  
  
Stec:00 / 00/ 02  
  
* Some notes on Pantyhose Taro. For the purposes of the fanfiction (and my somewhat altered version of Taro's origins) he became stronger than I feel he is in the canon manga. Reading Book Two (past chapter 15) and into the China Story, the reasons for this become very clear. He also fights unfairly and with a measure of craftiness none of the characters are used to, which doesn't hurt his chances. Finally, I determined the strength/endurance of Taro's transformed state by the fact that it took a blow from Ranma and Ryouga and Mousse and Shampoo to the back of his skull to stun him. At the same time, he had shown the ability to knock himself out with a hard blow to the head.   
  
Saotome Genma(tentative)  
  
(When Ranma's age (17) / during Happosai Training / Present)   
  
Spd:12 / 17 / 13  
  
Str:12 / 16/ 14  
  
End:10 / 15/ 08  
  
Tec:08 / 12/ 10  
  
Ada:15 / 16/ 15  
  
Stec:05 / 12/ 20  
  
Prince Herb  
  
(Intro Scene)  
  
Spd:20  
  
Str:24  
  
End:50  
  
Tec:24  
  
Ada:15  
  
Stec:50  
  
Saffron "The Terrible" (circa 1973/1974)  
  
(Book Two Child / Book Two Adult)  
  
Spd:05 / 18  
  
Str:02 / 12  
  
End:Not Applicable  
  
Tec:04 / 05  
  
Ada:04 / 05  
  
Stec:06 / 80 


	15. Learning Curve part 15

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.  
  
"Learning Curve"  
  
Part XV (v1.4)  
  
by: J. Wagner   
  
"WHAT?! My babies have been kidnapped?! How could this HAPPEN?! RANMA! RYOUGA!!"  
  
Ranma took the words in stride; his ears had stopped ringing, only to be replaced by an echo of Tendo-san's voice. Ryouga glowered at the floor, but slowly rose to his feet. His fists were clenched, and his jaw set, as the Tendo patriarch yelled and moaned. Soun's Demon head had been looming over them for some time, and both boys seemed too suffused in their own self-loathing to notice anymore.  
  
There was no excuse he could muster. He had failed.  
  
Ryouga's eyes were shut, but his body was trembling with pent up anger. The lost boy had had a hand in planning out their little surprise attack on the pantyhose monster, but neither boy had really anticipated that it would take one or both of the girls as captives. It was an oversight Ryouga had no one but himself to blame for. The added humiliation of being slammed into that car, his curse triggering as he tried to break free of the wreckage, and being taken home in pig form for the second time in as many days didn't help matters.  
  
"Quit your yammering!"   
  
Soun's Demon Head faded instantly, and the three men looked at the source of the voice. Happosai sat, cross-legged, nearby, smoking his pipe. A circle of smoke escaped his nose, and slowly took on the form of a soft white bra, before dispersing into the air completely. After another quick puff, the old man spoke again, "He'll come back to us soon enough."  
  
"Huh?" Ryouga's head tilted suspiciously, or perhaps warily.  
  
"What do you mean by that, old man?" Ranma added, for good measure.  
  
"He dropped this." Happosai pulled from his person a rather ruffled looking collection of papers bound by an old hand made strap. The cover was in Chinese Mandarin and Japanese.  
  
"I remember that book. It's..."  
  
"The Jyusenkyou Registry!" Ranma finished the lost boy's sentence. He, too, remembered signing the book when he visited Jyusenkyou. Opening its pages, Ranma skimmed through a long parade of names, none of which he recognized. Each was paired with a date, and a symbol... but both the date and symbol, added in by the Guide (or previous Guides), seemed to be in either an obscure dialect of Chinese, or some kind of code. Ryouga snorted over Ranma's shoulder, and the smaller boy could tell that Ryouga had seen something he himself had missed.   
  
"He says he's looking for a man," Happosai continued.  
  
"And that means he'll try to get the book back." Soun nodded, understanding.  
  
"Ryouga?" Ranma asked, softly. "What is it, man?"  
  
"That." Ryouga pointed to a small circular scribble in the upper right corner of the current page, next to one of the names. "I've seen that before. And not just in this book. I just... can't quite remember where."  
  
Turning the page, and finally skipping a dozen forward, Ranma stopped at more recent names he recognized. "Look! He's crossing these out."  
  
"He's attacked a lot of people." Ryouga saw his name, as well as Saotome-san's, crossed out. Nearly all the recent names with a particular symbol under their them had been crossed out. Putting two and two together, he finally voiced what he'd been thinking since they'd opened the book. "That symbol... it represents gender. This Pantyhose person has only attacked men with curses, not women."  
  
"Makes sense," Ranma agreed. "What does the stuff under that symbol mean, though?"   
  
Ryouga frowned.  
  
"Well?" Ranma insisted.  
  
"I... I don't know. Maybe some kind of code for which curse they have." Ryouga crossed his arms. He wasn't going to say anymore, it seemed.   
  
"Hmm, there's one man's name that hasn't been crossed out." Soun pointed to a name in the middle of the paper.  
  
"That must be the guy this freak is looking for!"  
  
Soun's gasped, and the tears started to flow anew. "Because of this man, my poor daughters have been kidnapped!"  
  
"But... what is it?" Ranma looked at the name closely. "Is it some kind of code? And ancient language?"  
  
"It looks like a drawing," Ryouga added in.  
  
"Idiots!" Happosai rushed up, and took the registry from Ranma's hands, "Lemme see it... it says... 'Happo-sai.'"  
  
Stunned silence followed.... by a flashback.  
  
Over ten years ago...  
  
"Here, sir." A younger version of the Guide frowned. They were on the east side of the springs, arguably the worst side to be on. "You see legendary training ground of Jyusenkyou."  
  
Happosai looked over the mist-shrouded valley, flanked on virtually all sides by rising mountains and cliffs. Well over a hundred large springs dotted the area, all marked by bamboo poles. The nearest one, the still ancient pervert noted, had a small symbol etched near the top. Hardy wild scrubs grew liberally near the springs, but there was no color to the place - flowers weren't to be seen anywhere, even though it was late spring, and oddly, there wasn't a dragonfly or insect to be seen.   
  
"Aiya!"   
  
The Guide peered ahead, and Happosai followed his gaze. "Eh?"  
  
"A pregnant woman!" The Guide broke into a run. "And she in labor!"  
  
As the two men got closer, the Guide seemed to hesitate for just a second, before running to her side. The woman seemed to be a normal Chinese peasant woman, hair cut short, neither especially comely or not. A basket full of collected eggs had been put aside, obviously with some care, as none were cracked. She seemed to be in pain, but was unusually quiet about it. She looked up from him to the Guide, and recognition seemed to flash in her eyes, but she remained strangely silent.  
  
A pervert Happosai knew he was, but he really didn't want anything to do with the birth itself. Fortunately, the Guide seemed up to the task, and became the first thing the baby boy saw when he took his first breath. The woman hardly cried out during the relatively quick labor, but accepted the child eagerly when the Guide handed him over.  
  
"Excuse me, sir." The Guide turned from the two, and seemed to be thinking something over. Happosai, meanwhile, took the opportunity to see the infant for himself, and when he reached for it, the woman handed the babe over without a word. The little boy already had a few strands of brown hair, and strangely accented eyes. Shrugging it off, he carried the boy to a nearby pool, and started washing him. Without animals around, Jyusenkyou was quite serenely devoid of sound - not even the croaking of a frog could be heard.  
  
"AIYA!! Sir, what you doing?!" The Guide seemed to have turned from calm and reserved to bordering on panic.  
  
"Bathing the newborn of course!" Happosai held the now wailing child aloft, and watched in amazement as it transformed, tiny horns sprouting from the head, the wings spreading from the back...  
  
"But that Niuhoomaorenniichuan!! Is tragic spring where yeti-riding-ox-while-carrying-eel-and-crane drown two thousand five hundred year ago! Is most tragic haunted spring in all Jyusenkyou!"  
  
"Yeti?" Soun seemed incredulous.   
  
"Riding an ox?"  
  
"Carrying an eel and crane?"  
  
"Growf?"  
  
"Yes." Happosai nodded gravely. "And so it is that baby..."  
  
Happosai sniffled. "Oh, he'd grown up so well!"  
  
"Whose side are you on, anyway?!" Ranma bopped the old man upside the head, but Happosai was too busy daydreaming to feel it. Ryouga just shook his head.  
  
"At least I'm not the only madman here." He faced the open door, looking out over the pond. "But where is this guy now?"  
  
***  
  
"Ngh." Akane blinked, eyes slow to adjust to the half-light. "Where...?"  
  
"Not the Ritz Hilton, that's for sure," A familiar voice returned, and Akane looked up at her older sister, still in her school clothes, hanging over her. In the background, she could make out cobwebs in the corners of the room, and feel a rough wool blanket and pillow under her.  
  
"You seemed comfortable enough, though, so I didn't wake you." Nabiki gave a small smile. She had a small cut on her forehead, and it instantly reminded the younger girl of what had happened.  
  
"Nabiki..." Akane got to her knees. "The monster...!"  
  
"He's over there," she said and motioned towards a figure in the shadows, sitting on the edge of some sturdily built wooden railing.   
  
"Huh." The man laughed. "So, she finally woke up, did she?"  
  
"And who do you think you are?!" Akane charged, recklessly, and kicked at the man before Nabiki could stop her. Her target, however, effortlessly jumped and avoided the strike. Before Nabiki could follow what had happened, Akane was face down on the floor, a length of pantyhose around her left arm, keeping it behind her back.   
  
"Huh." He gave another short laugh. "Do you think I'll be merciful to you because you're a woman?"  
  
Akane snarled.  
  
"Obviously not," Nabiki interrupted. She walked forward, arms wide and non-threatening. "Please let her go. She can't do anything to you, and you know it."  
  
The man frowned, but let go of the pantyhose holding Akane's arm in place, and took his left foot off the small of her back, letting her get to her feet. Akane's face was approaching a nimbus of rage, but some measure of self-control and reason kept her from trying again to attack their kidnapper.   
  
"Why did you kidnap us?" Akane managed, keeping her anger in check for the moment.  
  
"I kidnapped you to keep that old man from blasting me again." He pointed to Akane, then to Nabiki. "And you, to make sure I got the Jyusenkyou Registry back. Neither of your stupid boyfriends would dare double cross me with both of you here."  
  
"We're his insurance." Nabiki scoffed. "Not too original, I dare say. But it could be worse, coming from someone who seems to be obsessed with women's pantyhose."  
  
"Watch what you say, woman." The man looked at her dangerously, before turning and jumping from the railing, and into the night. "You don't know anything."  
  
***  
  
"Get back here, you old goat!!"  
  
Crash  
  
"I don't wanna! I don't wanna!"  
  
Clang  
  
"Oh my! What a mess!"  
  
"I don't wanna get involved with that monster!!"  
  
"I'm gonna catch you and give you to him!"  
  
"Damn you, you old fart!!"  
  
"AAAKKKANEEE!!! NAAABBIKI!!!"  
  
By Morning:  
  
"Blast it! It's like he disappeared! Where the hell did that old fool run off to?" Ryouga snarled in frustration, knuckles white from the tension in his fists. He was starting to lose it, Ranma could tell. Tendo-san was no help either.  
  
"If... If the master won't help... then... then..." Mr. Tendo trailed off, breaking down into sobs.  
  
Ranma sighed. His father wasn't of much use. Still in his panda form, he spent more time looking panicked and afraid for himself than searching for his old master. Only Ryouga and Kasumi had been of much help, but Kasumi was fairly oblivious, and Ryouga rather small reserve of patience was rapidly running out. Ranma was surprised that the lost boy hadn't managed to get totally lost while looking around the house and dojo.  
  
"It looks like I have no other recourse," Ranma finally said, and reached for an always available nearby bucket of cold water. A few seconds later, a busty, wet Ranma-chan was poised on the empty pail, slipping on a frilly piece of pantyhose. The cutesy laugh sealed it - the bait was irresistible (though Ryouga seemed totally disgusted by the display), and within seconds, the lure had drawn in the prey.  
  
"Sweeto! Pantyhose!!!"  
  
"Idiot." Ranma's foot intercepted the black blur, stomping Happosai's face into the floor. Slipping the pantyhose off quickly, Ranma-chan used it to trap the tiny old man. "Ha Ha HA! Sucker!"  
  
"Curses! A trap!" Happosai strained halfheartedly against his silky prison to no avail.   
  
"Well done, son!" Soun's tear-works ended as abruptly as they had begun. "Now..."  
  
"Hey!" Ryouga spoke suddenly, cutting him off. "Does anyone else hear that?"  
  
Spinning, the lost boy back flipped away from the wall just as a massive winged form crashed through the fragile wood, kettle in hand. In seconds, the steaming empty kettle hit the ground, and the dragon scale vested martial artist stood before the assembled group. Ryouga snorted in disgust, but he had to admit - that had been one hell of an entrance.  
  
Nabiki would be pissed about the wall, though.  
  
Which reminded him!  
  
"What..."  
  
"What have you done with the girls?" Ryouga cut off his enemy/rival. "If you've harmed a hair on..."  
  
"They're perfectly fine, I assure you." Their unwanted guest smirked. "I will exchange one of them for the Registry... The other I keep as insurance for the duration of my stay here. It is a deal I suggest you take."  
  
"Wait!" Soun approached the boy, handing him the wrapped Happosai-in-pantyhose ball. "Please, accept this gift from us. Contained within is the man you are looking for."  
  
"Is that so?" He gave the ball of pantyhose a questioning look, and started to unwrap it.   
  
Finding nothing.  
  
"Calm down! Calm down!" Soun practically jumped up and down, trying to get the attention of the raging and suddenly transformed boy-turned-monster. Then, a black blur caught the monster's eye.  
  
"You want the Jyusenkyou Visitor Registry? It's right here!" Happosai bounced up to the flying minotaur, stuffed the old book into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed. Veins began to pop on the monster's head and neck.   
  
"Well... that could have gone better." Ryouga big-sweated.  
  
"You could say that." Ranma did the same.  
  
"RRAGH!" The creature that was Pantyhose Taro Transformed lunged, and smashed a hole in the floor, narrowly missing the lightning quick pervert.  
  
"Nyah nyah! Missed me, you fool!" Happosai turned around in midair, hands to his sides. "Happo Dai Karin Special!!"  
  
For the second time, the Dojo shuttered.  
  
"Does he always have to do that?"   
  
"OH!!! My poor house!!"  
  
***  
  
The Nekohanten was practically empty. Most Nerima regulars recognized that when the local crew of martial artists got together in one spot, trouble was either afoot, or about to erupt from their midst. The fact that the group had come into the store with an oddly dressed unconscious man, draped over a very large panda's shoulder, didn't engender anyone to stay. As the last customer hastily finished his food, and paid for the bill, the group of martial artists had just finished tying the unconscious man to a chair.  
  
"Thank you. Come again soon!" Shampoo gave the somewhat rushed customer a warm smile, which he returned more out of nervousness than anything else, before collecting the money and adding it to the register.  
  
"So Happosai cursed him?" Cologne's voice didn't sound the least bit surprised by what had just been told.  
  
"The old man gave him a bath in one of the Jyusenkyou springs." Ranma rested his chin in the crook of his hand. "Yeti riding a bull and carrying a bird or something."  
  
"No wonder he hate Happosai." Shampoo walked over to Ranma's side, and got a good look at his unconscious prisoner. He didn't look particularly dangerous, with his head dropped forward, limply, long bangs covering his eyes and most of his face from view. The dragon scale vest, however, did seem slightly familiar, somehow - like she had seen it somewhere before. In a picture, or... or...  
  
"He's the victim here, really." Ranma crossed his arms and gave their guest an almost sympathetic look.  
  
"He is NOT! I've had just about enough of 'feeling sorry' for this bastard!" Ryouga roared, slamming his palm on the table loud enough to get everyone's attention, but short of breaking it in two. Roughly grabbing the unconscious boy by his vest, Ryouga backhanded him swiftly, before slapping him again, and ending in another hard backhand that bruised the other boy's cheek and drew blood beneath the surface. Shampoo winced at the sight. Ryouga wasn't normally that violent (except towards Ranma), it was obvious that he'd been building up his anger and resentment for some time.  
  
"Wake up, you!" Ryouga gave him another hard shake, and their guest's eyes slowly opened. "Where are the girls? Answer me or die!"  
  
A trickle of blood fell from the mysterious youth's mouth, but he smiled at the raging lost boy in his face, before turning away dismissively. "Feh... pig boy."  
  
"What... did you call me?" Ryouga calmly reached down, and picked up the table with one hand, holding it over his head.  
  
"No!! Don't kill him! We need him to find the girls!!" Soun wailed, and Ryouga sneered, dropping the table to his side.   
  
"Geez. Calm down, man." Ranma watched as the slowly cooling Hibiki stalked off a few feet, keeping his distance from the others. Picking up his umbrella, he twirled it in front of him dangerously. Ranma recognized the signs - he was just waiting for an opportunity to attack the guy, whoever he was.  
  
"Listen." Ranma addressed their captive. "The one who caused your condition is Happosai..."  
  
"What?" The mysterious young man looked up at Ranma, but in his mind's eye, he saw the old freak. "Him?"  
  
"I know how you feel." Ranma used his best sounding diplomatic voice. "I mean, of all the things to turn into... a monster! How pathetically sad is that?"  
  
"Heh. Not like turning into a girl, eh?" The boy's foot lashed out in an incredible display of dexterity, and not only lifted a nearby glass of water, but splashed Ranma with it in the same motion. "At least I don't wear bras and act like a fag."  
  
"Noooo...." Ranma-chan reached for another nearby glass, and returned the favor. "You only wear pantyhose you sick freak!!"  
  
"Aa..." Soun backed off.  
  
"You fool!" Genma held up a sign, before diving for cover.  
  
The newly transformed monster roared, sending people outside the store running for cover. Nothing normal made - that - sound. It only took a second for the beast to tear through the front entrance, sending the Nekohanten sign flying across the street and into a fruit vendor's stand. Rearing up to its full height, now outside the store and in the street, the monster held its clenched fist high, and in his grasp, Ranma-chan squirmed and kicked at the creature's face.  
  
"Just try it, Pantyhose-boy!!"   
  
"GGRAAHH!!!"  
  
"Restaurant is mess," Shampoo stated the obvious.  
  
"Yep. ...If you two are going to fight, do it somewhere else." Cologne lifted her staff, and made a swirled pattern just behind the angry beast. Her Ki flared, and a gust of wind took the creature up and into the air, still holding onto its would-be prey.   
  
Shampoo felt someone walk up from behind, and saw Ryouga standing next to her. His voice was monotone. "Let's go. You lead."  
  
***  
  
"Akane! Be careful!"  
  
"Ha! If he thought we were going to stay put while he was out, he's in for a surprise." Akane scooted down the rocky side of the bluff. "Come on, oneechan!"  
  
"I can't believe this." Nabiki edged down the side of what seemed to her to be an almost sheer cliff. Akane seemed to be weathering the challenge easily, but Nabiki wasn't exactly enjoying herself. It was like the time she'd conned her way into a rock-climbing club, except here, there weren't any supports or ropes. She felt vaguely jealous of her more athletic younger sister, who seemed not to be having any trouble at all.  
  
"Oh oh." Akane gasped at something, just as Nabiki got to the bottom, brushed herself off and rounded the corner. What she saw was a fierce rapid of water blocking their escape, at least twenty or so feet across.   
  
"Well, here we..." Akane seemed about to jump.  
  
"You can't swim. Remember?"  
  
"Ah!" Akane hesitated, and fell short of actually getting into the water, and only drenching her head and collar. She spurted and gagged before she realized most of her body was still on dry land, and pulled herself up.  
  
"Well, this isn't good." Nabiki rested her hands on her hips, and by chance, looked up at the clear blue sky. "Hey... what's that?"  
  
"HAHAHA!! Just try and drop me, you pantyhose freak!" Ranma-chan got hold of the creature's horns, and held on as he did another barrel roll.  
  
"If I stay on him like this, he's just gotta lead us to the girls," Ranma-chan reminded herself, and braced as the monster dipped wilding and bucked, in an attempt to shake her off his back. Ranma-chan's thoughts were interrupted, as she just barely caught sight of a fist heading her way. Quickly avoiding it, a loud 'clonk' sounded as it made contact with the monster's own skull. Another hasty strike leaded similar results, and the patchwork monster began to wobble in midair.  
  
"The idiot actually knocked himself out!" Ranma-chan couldn't believe it - what a moron! As the no longer flying monster started to fall, she decided to wait it out and let the buy crash. Scrambling down his body for the feet as they both plummeted, the beast suddenly recovered, and pulled out from the uncontrolled spin, leaving the unprepared Ranma-chan alone in the air.  
  
She hung there for a second, dumbfounded, before freefalling.  
  
"Here he comes!" Nabiki stepped back cautiously as the creature that kidnapped the two Tendo sisters landed just feet from where they stood, at the edge of the rapids separating them from escape.   
  
"Ranma!" Akane yelled, straining her voice.  
  
Nabiki looked from the monster, to Akane, to an unconscious red haired girl hanging limply onto a floating log of a tree, caught in the rapids. Cursing silently, she ran to the edge, next to Akane. Unlike her sister, she could swim pretty well, in calm ocean water and pools, anyway. But white water rapids...? Akane looked at her suddenly, desperately, eyes frantic, and Nabiki balked.   
  
"Ranma," Akane repeated, this time softly to herself. "I'm coming."  
  
"What? Are you crazy?" Nabiki whirled, but her sister had already jumped. "Don't!!"  
  
She hung, over the water, as the jump carried her almost the entire distance to the tree. Akane grimaced as she hit it, hard, and dug her hands into the bark. The water was lapping at her, and she had to bite her lip and focus on the pain to keep from panicking and letting go. The temptation to flail her arms and escape warred with her need to hold onto the tree... and to save Ranma.   
  
Ranma.  
  
His name galvanized her, and with grim determination, Akane crawled closer to where the boy turned girl lay, eyes closed. Reaching him, she frantically started shaking her by the scuff of her shirt. "Ranma! Ranma!! Wake up! NOW!!"  
  
A harsh slap to the face finally did it, and Ranma's eyes started to open. "A... Akane? ...What?"  
  
"Ranma." Akane smiled, relief flooding out in the form of tears.  
  
"Akane... Akane, hold on!" Ranma jumped up, balancing on the log, as the flying monster swept down from above for a finishing blow. She roughly grabbed Akane, and held her close.  
  
"You want me?" Ranma yelled up at the descending creature. "Come and get me, you PANTYPHILE!!"  
  
The creature's eyes narrowed into cruel slits, and a wild blow smashed into the tree, just as Ranma, still holding Akane, jumped back and away. The blow sent one end of the tree into the air, and Ranma landed on it with both feet, using all their weight, assisted by gravity, to drive that end back into the water. Before the monster could react or dodge, the splintered end of the tree it had just punched into the water came right back up and out, cutting a bloody gash along his right arm and nearly to the collarbone.  
  
"Take that, you Nylon Neurotic!" Ranma-chan tensed to make another move, when Akane screamed.  
  
"What? What?" Ranma looked over her shoulder. "W... Waterfall!!"  
  
Nabiki watched, helplessly, still running to catch up to them along the rapids, as the monster, her sister, and Ranma-chan all tumbled into the water and off what looked to be a steep waterfall. After an exhausting run through thick underbrush, she came to the end, and a truly steep drop off into a small pool fed by the waterfall. At the bottom, floated the tree they had ridden off the edge on, one end still bloody from where it had cut into the monster's arm.  
  
With a tremendous splash, something large erupted from the water. Nabiki hung her head, defeated - Akane was like a fifty-pound barbell in the water, and from the looks of things, Ranma wasn't coming to the surface. Ranma had never been her favorite person, but over the last few months, he'd become less a freeloading stranger, and more almost like a brother... to all of them, and obviously something very important to Akane. Salty tears formed, but she quickly wiped them away, and stood, defiantly. In a single motion, the flying creature reached down, picked her up in a massive hand, and headed off.  
  
Below, Ranma groaned in exhaustion. Reaching the shore after the fall had been difficult enough as it was, keeping Akane from drowning herself had been even harder. He was silently thankful for all the endurance training and toughening he'd undergone to fight Ryouga - without them, he almost certainly would have passed out when he hit the water, shielding Akane's body with his/her own. They'd have both ended up at the bottom of the pool then. Reaching the shore, Ranma-chan hefted Akane out of the water, and onto land. Getting herself out as well, she looked Akane over, and checked for breathing.   
  
"Akane... come on, you tomboy... you're tougher than this." He reached for her, tentatively. He'd heard the basics of CPR in one of the physical education classes he'd had, a few months ago, but he'd never done it.   
  
"Something about pushing down on the rib cage... something about mouth-to-mouth?" Ranma swallowed, finding his mouth surprisingly dry. He thought, first, about trying the former, but touching Akane there... he pulled back nervously. Opting for the latter, he leaned down.   
  
"A seal. Form a seal," he reminded himself, and without any more hesitation, dove in. Her lips were slightly cold, but Ranma ignored the feelings he was getting from his extremities, and concentrated on getting her breathing again.  
  
Nothing.  
  
"Come on, Akane... come on... please! Please... don't do this..." He tried again, not even hearing the snapping of twigs behind him from the bushes.  
  
"Don't." He brushed his fingers down her cheek. "Don't die on me..."  
  
***  
  
Nabiki looked out, over the railing, but saw only water, and the rocky shore. Her captor had been apt when he called this place the 'Temple of the Watery Grave.' Frustration almost came out again, and she fought to control it. The helpless maiden role wasn't one she had ever really expected to find herself in. She was a businesswoman. She was independent. Ranma was as tenacious and tough as goat, and Akane... Nabiki shook her head. Akane was alive. Ranma, Ryouga... none of her friends would let her die out there.   
  
She knew it well enough not to bet against seeing her little sister soon.  
  
Rather than getting angry with herself, or even those around her, Nabiki took a deep breath. Mentally, she distanced herself, and tired of looking at things from the point of view of a victim, she tried to imagine herself as this monster-person who had kidnapped her, and attacked people at random. No... not random. He had attacked people, men to be specific, since Shampoo hadn't gotten involved, with Jyusenkyou curses. There had to be a reason; some rhyme and methodology to what he was doing.  
  
Men!   
  
Men... with Jyusenkyou curses.   
  
He had mentioned, in one of his more quasi-talkative moods, that he kidnapped them to get the Jyusenkyou registry back. He was obviously after someone who had been to Jyusenkyou, but hadn't found them yet. He had a curse, too: a freakish curse, but still a legitimate Jyusenkyou curse. Perhaps he had been kicked or thrown into one of the cursed pools by this person he was looking for, and wanted revenge?  
  
It wouldn't be the first time something like that had occurred, Nabiki knew all too well. And if he didn't know who his attacker had been, it would explain why he was attacking the people who had been there, hoping to hit the one that had done it. But how would he know if it was the right person? Someone this thorough wouldn't be content with simply beating him a lot of people, and hoping or assuming that one of them had been the guilty party. This kind of behavior was meticulous and obsessive.  
  
Then there was the matter of the pantyhose.  
  
What did they represent? They obviously had some great significance... something unspoken, and deeply etched into this young man's mind. He had tied a single pair around each of his targets. Why? Was it some kind of trademark, like a 'Z' for Zorro? If so, why did he get angry whenever he heard the word?  
  
"We're his insurance," she had scoffed, "Not too original, I dare say. But it could be worse, coming from someone who seems to be obsessed with women's pantyhose."  
  
"Watch what you say, woman. You don't know anything." The man had looked at her dangerously, before turning and jumping from the railing, and into the night. Indeed, Nabiki saw now, the pantyhose were the key here, not the man's curse. The pantyhose represented something, something powerful, some deep and old shame, perhaps. A woman? No... it seemed unlikely. It was too much of a stretch of the imagination.  
  
If he was getting revenge for losing a woman, by attacking the man who stole her from him, or something similar, why the randomness, when he could just look for her. Besides, when a woman leaves a man for another, it was Nabiki's impression that he tended to obsess over her, not the other guy. Besides, the monster-boy hardly seemed the romantic type. He was more darkly obsessive, like Ryouga used to be.  
  
A murder, maybe.  
  
Perhaps an unknown visitor to Jyusenkyou murdered someone close to him, and he wanted revenge. The pantyhose, then, could be a way of reminding them of their crime... but why put it on everyone he attacked? Again, the sense of random attacking, and hoping to hit the right one didn't fit in here. No, she decided, it wasn't a murder. It was something both simpler, and older... something that ran deep.  
  
Pantyhose.  
  
The pantyhose as a trademark.  
  
Or...  
  
"A signature!" Nabiki smiled, grimly. That had to be it! The pantyhose either represented some kind of martial arts style or school, a possibility, or a name. She was willing to bet on the latter. Turning around, triumphantly, and bolstered by confidence, she saw him struggling with tying some of the aforementioned material around the slash on his arm.   
  
"Cursed cross dressing faggot..." Taro grumbled, holding one end of pantyhose in his mouth, while trying to tighten it around his arm.  
  
"Pantyhose," Nabiki said it softly, but clearly. He looked up at her, anger and surprise warring for prominence in his eyes.  
  
"That's your name, isn't it?" She hoped she hadn't blundered, and ended up looking stupid.  
  
"Don't call me that."  
  
"What should I call you then, huh?"  
  
"Taro. Just... just Taro." He looked away, ashamed.  
  
"Here." She sat down next to him. "Let me tie that."  
  
He 'hmfed' and avoided her eyes. "It's pointless trying to get on my good side."  
  
"Yes, I know. You don't have a good side," Nabiki quipped, bringing a length of the pantyhose around his neck to secure it in place.  
  
"Tell me what happened. And why you're holding me captive." Nabiki tightened the knot, and deciding she'd done enough, stopped. Unlike Akane, she knew when to stop doing something. Her little sister wouldn't stop until half her patient's arm had been mummified and wrapped soundly enough to last a millennium.  
  
Pantyhose Taro spoke, reluctantly, and told his story.   
  
Nabiki listened.  
  
"So you became this way because of Happosai." She rolled her eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"  
  
"Yeah. But before I deal with that old man." Taro faced her for the first time since they'd started talking. "I'm going to destroy that stupid cross dresser."  
  
Nabiki sighed. Ranma's natural charm had apparently once again earned him a new 'special friend.' She watched, as Taro stood up, and walked over to a pile of dry wood. He lit one on a nearby oil lamp, like a torch, and started a large bonfire next to the dusty old abandoned Temple. It caught fire remarkably quickly, and the flame and smoke reached high.  
  
"You're underestimating them. You don't know what they're capable of. I'd be willing to wager that Saotome Ranma isn't the only one who wants a piece of you, you know." Nabiki said, as they watched the raging fire. It was a signal fire, taunting those below.  
  
Taro lips slowly curved into a cruel smirk. "I know. In fact, I'm counting on it."  
  
***  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Mousse sputtered, spitting fiercely and hacking. Ukyou quickly realized he was choking, and started slapping him on the back. The semi-blind Amazon pointed to his mouth, and started scratching his tongue.  
  
"Mousse? Come on, sugar! Say something! What happened?"  
  
"Agh! Terrible! Terrible... taste!"  
  
Ukyou's eyes widened. "What did you say?"  
  
"Terrible taste! Burning... hurts...!"  
  
"Now listen here, you, just what the hell is wrong with my cooking?" Ukyou yelled, stomping her foot.  
  
"I.... I don't know," Mousse's voice was hoarse as he spoke. "Something awful, though."  
  
CLANG!  
  
"Don't blame me! That sauce was like rancid bat puke!"  
  
"You take that back! I made it myself!!"  
  
"Have you tasted it?" Mouse wisely backed off, out of mega-spatula range.  
  
"Well... no." Ukyou put her pack down, and took out the small container of the secret sauce she had quickly taken out of her supply from Ukyou's. She had put the ingredients together when she was a child, and sealed it away soon after - it had tasted fine then, and it should have turned out perfect after the required ten years. She had taken it along to try it out. Mousse liked her cooking, and being fairly experienced in culinary pursuits himself, he often gave good advice. And, in a way, she liked the blind idiot.   
  
Taking a little taste for herself, she instantly spat it out. "What the hell?!"  
  
"See?" Mousse stepped around where he had dropped his okonomiyaki, on the trail they were walking down. It was just terrible enough to smell bad, too, even from such a distance and in the clean mountain air.  
  
"This doesn't taste anything like it should! But... that's impossible! I tasted it myself, sealed it tightly, talked to Ranma and left... left Ranma..." Her mouth was moving but no more words came out.  
  
"Hello? Anyone home?" Mousse waved a hand in front of her. "Hello?"  
  
"IT WAS RANMA!!!" Ukyou roared, startling the male Amazon.  
  
"Ah! What? What?!"  
  
"It was Ranma! I left him alone with the sauce... the stupid jackass probably tried to sneak a taste, spilt it or something, and screwed it up! Oooo!! Wait until I see him again...!"  
  
Mousse gulped. What was it about Ranma that caused so much trouble, anyway? No sooner had Ukyou been ready to put the whole thing with him aside than something like this happened. This was not a road he wanted Ukyou to go down again. Mousse quickly gave a little laugh, and decided to steer her off that topic for the time being. "Come on, Ukyou... Uuchan. We're almost there. Forget about Saotome for now. There'll be time for that later."  
  
"Oh, there will be. That's a promise." Ukyou sighed, and slowly became her normal cheerful self. They walked down the trail at a brisk pace, and below them opened a small, mist-shrouded valley. They stopped momentarily to admire the sight.  
  
"Wow." She looked from one end to the other. Through the mist, she could just barely make out a small house, to the south side of the valley. There were springs everywhere, like Swiss cheese... probably over a hundred in all. "Just... wow."  
  
"Kuonji Ukyou, I give you the legendary cursed training ground of Jyusenkyou." He swept a hand from south to north. "Don't fall, now. That would be a bad thing."  
  
"Whatever you say, Mu-chan." Her face was almost shining, and Mousse couldn't help but smile back.  
  
"You know, I really should've taught you some more Chinese. All the signs are in Mandarin... ah well." He shrugged. "Let's go."  
  
"Lead the way." She stuck behind him, as they descended down the winding path and into the valley itself. An eerie sense of unease set in, the moment she felt herself walk into the through the Jyusenkyou mist. Mousse had said that the place was rife with tragedy, and that it was called cursed for good reason. But she swallowed her discomfort, and kept going before her companion could notice any difference. For Nanniichuan, for her closest friends in the world, this was as nothing.  
  
Mousse would be cured.  
  
What he did from there, Ukyou was unsure.  
  
Ryouga would be cured, and he'd smile. Just for her. He'd taught her so much, and asked nothing in return except that she follow her heart (and beat up Ranma a little). No: she would pay him back with this cure for his curse. They would bring water for Shampoo too, of course, though Mousse had, for a while, grumbled about it pushing her and Ranma together. And, lastly, she would bring back the cure for her former enemy... enemies. When Ranma and Genma were cured, it would close the book on her association with them. She would truly be able to start with a clean slate.  
  
"Look! Is that the Guide?" Ukyou squinted and saw a rather plump man in the somewhat baggy clothes of a Chinese solider. He seemed to be with another visitor at the moment, near the periphery of the south springs.   
  
"That's him all right." Mousse headed over, and Ukyou followed.  
  
"Honored guest..." The Guide spoke in Mandarin, only some of which Ukyou picked up. "Here is the Nyannichuan, as you requested."  
  
As they got close, Ukyou got a good look at the Guide's 'honored guest.' He was a tall man, probably about twenty. Ornate dragon scale plate highlighted his shoulders and arms, as well as his lower body. He had a long cascade of stark white hair, broken by what looked like a blue streak down the middle, branching down into two long locks that rested on his chest. A white cape billowed around his ankles, and he had an unspoken aura of authority and ...royalty to him. As he looked in their direction, noticing the two teens for the first time, she saw his green-black eyes, but they were slit, like a cat's.  
  
He was also holding a monkey over one of the springs with one hand, and what looked like a ladle in the other. As Mousse stopped running, she felt his eyes pass over her, and a virtual wave of Ki energy leave his body. He opened his hand, and the monkey fell just short of landing in the spring, only to scamper away into the bushes.   
  
"What's going on here?" Mousse turned the Guide.   
  
"A woman?" The tall man was still staring at her as he spoke, in Mandarin, and Ukyou was starting to feel uncomfortable under his gaze.  
  
"What'd he say? Mousse, what'd he say?" She gripped her mega-spatula, and slowly drew it. "He better quit staring at me like that!"  
  
"He... He Prince of Musk Dynasty." The Guide took a few steps back, and put one of his hands in his pants pocket. "You two not supposed to be here already."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Mousse looked from the Guide to the Prince, "Wait... he's Prince Herb!?"  
  
"Are you with this woman?" Herb addressed the male Amazon, in perfect Japanese. By his voice, he wasn't feeling particularly amicable.  
  
"Y... Yeah," Mousse answered. Herb frowned, and with a sweep of his hand, and a flash of crackling Ki, Mousse was knocked off his feet. He lay where he fell, and twitched, twice, his clothes still smoking from the power of the blast.   
  
"Well, you aren't anymore." Herb smiled, and easily avoided Ukyou's megaspatula, which had been aimed to slice open his chest cavity.   
  
"Bastard!" Ukyou yelled, eyes red with rage. She moved with a speed she had been perfecting over the course of months of the most difficult training in her life. Her ferocity fueled her, and she slowly pressed her opponent back, though he easily dodged all her attacks. She was about to reach for one of her new emergency mini-flour bombs, when a soft tap to her forehead, a pressure point, followed by two others to the side of her face, sent her motionless to the ground.  
  
"Very nice." Herb, Prince of the Musk Dynasty, Descendant of Dragon, stood over Ukyou's unconscious form. "It appears... that Jyusenkyou is more generous than it is given credit for. Wouldn't you agree?"  
  
"Yes." The Guide scowled, his eyes falling on Mousse's barely breathing body, and back to the Dragon Lord. "Generous, indeed... honored sir." 


End file.
